Dragon-Sized Problems
by Silken Ink
Summary: What do you do when your best friend - who you also happen to harbor secret feelings for - suddenly loses all sense of personal boundaries? This is the question Lucy is suddenly forced to deal with when Natsu takes a funky potion and ends up going into heat. How will the dynamic duo deal with this problem of dragon-sized proportions? NaLu obviously.
1. CH 1: Cuddly Chores

**Author's Note:**

Well I'm back! Finally!

Jeez, that took me way longer than I expected...but hey, it's out and that's all that matters!

As I'm sure you read in the description, this story is about Natsu going into heat, but let me warn you that it won't be the usual PWP type of story. This one has a whole plotline to go with it, so it's a slow burn... but never fear! There **WILL** be a lemon of epic proportions, so the wait will be worth it. ;D Also, if lemons aren't your thing, it'll be pretty obvious when it comes, so you can always just skip it if you need to.

I'll be publishing every weekend, probably Sunday, so you can expect regular updates. ;D And my policy is that if we get up to ten reviews on a chapter, I'll put a sneak peek at the end of the next chapter I publish.

Alright, alright...I'll stop the jibber jabber. Let's get on with the show shall we. ;D

* * *

"Hey Luce!"

The sudden greeting made Lucy nearly choke on the hotdog she'd just put into her mouth, and she burst into a round of coughing…. which wasn't helped in the slightest when Natsu slung his arm around her neck.

"N-Natsu!" she hacked, not even caring that she spat a bit of bun out in her search for breath.

"Wow…aren't you always telling me not to talk with my mouth full? You're spraying food all over the place!" he teased, squeezing his grip on her even tighter and leaning in.

She sputtered as she was forced practically into the table and one of her hands came up to land solidly on his cheek, pushing him back some. "C-could you not?!"

"What? What am I doing?"

Finally giving up on speech, she finished clearing her air pipe and then replenished her lungs with much needed oxygen. Only then did she attempt to communicate with her pushy partner.

"Good grief Natsu…what _**are**_ you doing anyways? Why are you hanging off me like that?" she questioned.

Her hand was still pressed into his face, fingers bracketing one eye and her palm smooshing his nose to the side. The pressure she exerted was pushing his head away from her – which forced him to crane his neck back at an odd angle to accommodate – but it still hadn't made him give up his hold on her neck. He practically had her in a headlock and was draped over her like a shawl.

He eyeballed the position and then shrugged. "Eh, just felt like it I guess."

After a moment he finally pulled back, much to her intense relief. She was used to him being an extremely physical person, but _**that**_ had dented her personal bubble just a little too much.

He parked his behind next to her as she finally turned back to her lunch, deeming the incident nothing more than a mildly odd fluke.

"So, what do you wanna do today? Wanna go on a mission?"

After chewing – and swallowing this time – she replied, "Not today. I have a bunch of chores to do."

"Aw…that's no fun…." Happy interjected as he flew over to join them, fishy prize in paw. He'd obviously made a trip to the bar and pilfered off Mira.

"Sorry Happy." she said with a smile and reached to pat his head. "But I've put them off too long as it is."

"Well…guess we could tag along with you for these 'chores.'"

She cocked her eyebrow in surprise at her pink-haired partner. Since when was he interested in chores?

"Um…why? I'm pretty sure you'd get bored silly."

He shrugged again, and then casually draped his arm around her shoulders…as if that was a natural thing for them. Well, it sort of was, but not really like this.

Her head turned so she could eyeball his hand, which flopped over her shoulder and dangled in front of her collarbone. And sheesh, was he hot…. as usual his body temperature was through the roof, and she very quickly felt toasty warm. Anyone who was less used to him probably would have started to sweat immediately, but Lucy had gotten shockingly accustomed to his particular brand of heat, thanks to his weird habit of sneaking into bed with her.

This was pretty strange behavior for him though, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

Her eyes swung back around when he answered her question. "I just feel like hanging out with ya today I guess."

It was said so casually that she found the statement perfectly normal. If he wasn't already acting a little odd, she wouldn't have thought anything of it, but paired with his actions it rang a few little alarm bells in her head.

Narrowing her eyes, she poked him in the chest with her finger. "You aren't planning some sort of prank are you?"

The expression that crossed his face wasn't the carefully innocent one she halfway expected. Instead he truly looked surprised and confused.

"No…why?"

"Huh. Well, I guess you're just acting a little…weird. So I thought you were up to something." she confessed, once again eyeing his arm around her and now wondering about its purpose if it wasn't to keep her next to him for some kind of prank.

Was he just feeling strangely cuddly? That was usually reserved for when he was asleep, but she supposed it might not be out of the norm. He didn't seem upset either, so this wasn't for comfort…not that he would necessarily use physical contact as comfort. Usually when he was truly upset he went off and dealt with it alone.

After a few wasted minutes pondering the situation, she just decided to follow his example and shrugged, figuring she'd find out soon enough what it was all about. Ignoring him for the moment, she went back to her temporarily forgotten hotdog and finished it.

The very last bite was thrown at Happy though, when he interrupted her meal with an inappropriate joke.

"Ooooh, Luuucy, it looks like he liiiikes you."

Natsu had no reaction aside from laughing, but Lucy felt a shot of embarrassment sting her in the butt.

"Can it, Cat!" she shouted with a blush and chucked the aforementioned bread and meat in his direction, beaning him right between the eyes.

"Ew!" he squeaked and rubbed at the yellow mustard stain her food had left behind.

"That's what you get for saying stupid stuff like that."

He pouted. "But it's _not _stupid…"

Before they could go into another round of, '_Natsu and Lucy sitting in a tree_,' or whatever rendition of the overused joke he would use this time, Lucy shook off Natsu's arm and stood with a dramatic flourish to dispose of her trash.

"That joke is super old, Happy. Come up with something new once in a while would you?"

As she walked away, it was to the sound of Happy laughingly saying, "Why? This one still works so well."

She huffed in frustration as she dunked the used napkins and dirty food into the bin, thinking to herself that he was right. If she didn't react to him, he'd probably give up on the stupid thing. But unfortunately she just couldn't seem to prevent herself from getting all flustered whenever he said something like that.

It was probably because he was right… half of the time at least. She was pretty sure Natsu was asexual, because she'd never, ever seen him look at a girl with any kind of lust on his face. Even the blush he sported whenever he accidentally saw her naked from time to time didn't exactly seem to be a lustful kind of flushing…although she wasn't entirely sure _what_ it was. He didn't seem interested, but he also wasn't shy, so she couldn't explain those particular facial expressions.

On the other hand, she _was_ very much interested in him. In fact, she was pretty sure she'd fallen in love with him years ago and had possessed a crush on him ever since he first crashed into her life. At first she hadn't acted on the feelings because she simply hadn't realized them. Then, when she finally figured it out, she had been vaguely horrified, since he was so far from what she'd considered 'boyfriend material' that she simply couldn't imagine being in a relationship with him. He was destructive, impulsive, chaos incarnate, untactful, generally unsensitive, and boneheaded.

Lucy had always liked to think of relationships in terms of husband potential. Oh, she'd gone on plenty of dates, but nobody had ever really lived up to her lofty standards. It was likely a throwback to when she'd been raised as a 'proper' lady. She might dress like a harlot from time to time, but she certainly wasn't one. She was only ready to commit to a relationship that looked like it was going somewhere, and if someone didn't seem like 'husband material' then he wasn't 'boyfriend material.'

And Natsu was basically the opposite of what she'd always considered as 'husband material.'

That phase had lasted a surprisingly long time, until she was finally forced to admit that the heart wants what the heart wants…. and hers happened to want crazy, pink, fiery pandemonium. Of course, he wasn't just that – he was also kind, surprisingly considerate, loyal to a fault, strong, heroic, morally sound, warm, generous, and just about every other good quality that actually mattered.

She sighed and grimaced, thinking to herself that it was just her luck she managed to fall in love with someone so disinterested in romance. After being his best friend for about five years now, she was definitely over dismissing him as a potential partner just because he was wild and crazy. But there was no way she could pursue a relationship with him when he obviously had zero interest in her. Their friendship simply had to be enough for her.

As usual, that train of thought left her feeling gloomy, and she was in the process of trying to cheer herself up when the object of her thoughts effectively distracted her. An unnaturally hot hand landed on her head and ruffled her hair, then gave it a little tug.

"Oi…what's with the long face? Did that trashcan eat something important of yours or something?"

She jerked, suddenly realizing that she'd been glaring at the trashcan for the last few minutes and probably looked more than a little weird.

"Ack! Jeez, I totally spaced out!" she said with an awkward chuckle as she turned to face him.

His hand surprisingly stayed on her head and he continued to pat and rub her as he cocked his head and shot her one of his big grins. "You're such a weirdo!"

She was almost positive that he didn't even realize he was basically petting her like a dog…. just another bit of strange contact to add to the list. Everything else about him seemed absolutely normal though, so she decided to ignore it once again.

With another awkward laugh, she took a side-step toward the door and managed to duck out from under his hand. "Um…yeah…well, like I said, I've got chores to tend to, so I'm gonna head out."

"Cool!"

His broad grin didn't decrease one wat, he just followed her as she started heading towards the door.

"Hey Happy! We're leaving!"

The blue Exceed quickly flew over and joined them.

As the three of them walked down the street towards her apartment, Lucy wondered just what strange alternate universe she'd stumbled into.

That confusion only increased as Natsu ambled just a little faster so that he could be RIGHT next to her, almost crowding her as they walked. Their hands brushed on every single step, yet when she glanced over she was utterly consternated to find him looking around with bright eyes and a totally normal happy expression. He looked for all the world like he wasn't aware of his invading her personal space.

A quick peek at Happy though showed big brown eyes on them and cheeks puffed out with amusement, so she wasn't the only one who noticed the weird behavior. All joking aside, she was actually rather grateful to him, otherwise she'd start thinking that she was going crazy.

Testing the waters a bit, she decided to distance herself from Natsu and see what happened. Subtly enough for the boneheaded dragon slayer not to pick up on it, she carefully put some space between them by walking a little faster. It worked for all of a minute, but as they started on the last block to her apartment, he once again caught up to her and pressed close.

By this point, she was truly starting to think that Natsu actually wasn't conscious of it, which meant that this – whatever _**this**_ was – was a subconscious or instinctual need to be closer to her. And that meant…. well she was sure it meant _something_, but she had no idea what exactly that something might be.

When he smooshed close the second time, she shot Happy another look to see if he noticed, and he certainly had. This time she made purposeful eye contact and gave him a, "_do you have any idea what this is?!_" sort of expression and gestured subtly at Natsu.

His amused expression didn't exactly go away, but at least he sobered up enough to shrug in answer to her silent question.

With an exasperated shake of her head, Lucy just put up with the oddity and pondered it silently in her own head until they reached her door.

Once inside, she immediately started on her chores, but when Natsu followed her into the bathroom – which she intended to clean – she'd had enough.

"Hey Natsu, why don't you go raid the fridge? Your sensitive nose probably won't like these chemicals."

His eyes brightened immediately. "Good idea! Thanks Luce."

After that, he finally left and she breathed a sigh of relief. Her poor heart couldn't take much more of this new clingy Natsu…. it was activating way too many feelings she did her best to hide.

With him gone, she decided to try to forget all the strangeness and snapped on a pair of cleaning gloves before getting to work. Scrubbing the sink, tub, and toilet certainly helped take her mind off of things and was unpleasant enough to thoroughly distract her. Especially the tub. She loved having a super huge tub for soaking, but it was a real pain to scrub.

About halfway through, Natsu had come back in, but he'd immediately left again with a crinkled-up nose. Strong chemical smells were a very good dragon slayer deterrent.

Once she was finally finished, she marked that chore off her list and then grabbed her dirty laundry hamper and carried it into her living room to sort through. She dumped it out on the living room floor and then sat down and started sorting, making sure to pick her underwear out and throw it back into the hamper first. The sooner she got that out of sight the better since she had company that liked to go through her underwear drawer and tease her over them. Honestly, she never would understand her friend's fascination with her lingerie.

Predictably, Natsu came over and plopped down next to her. She'd halfway expected it, but still flinched a little when he sat down cross-legged and his knee pressed into her thigh. Once again, he was much closer than usual, and she shot him a look out of the corner of her eye as she tossed a pair of thigh-highs into her hamper. What the hell was up with him today?

She decided to try and just ignore him, but that became a little difficult when he leaned in closer to the pile of dirty clothes and started audibly sniffing at them. Lucy's '_Weird Meter_' suddenly shot through the roof, and she found herself frozen and staring at him in shock. Seriously, what the hell?!

"What are you doing?! Stop sniffing my dirty laundry! That's weird!"

He completely ignored her protest and instead asked his own random question. "Hey Luce? Have you been wearing some new kinda perfume or using a new kinda soap or something lately?"

Lucy could feel a vein pulsing in her forehead and gritted her teeth. This was so strange that it was starting to seriously piss her off, but she decided to play along and see where it went.

"No. Why?" she managed to grind out, though her irritation was pretty audible.

"Huh…weird." he hummed, and then sniffed even more deeply.

Her eye twitched. "_**That's**_ weird?"

"Yeah. For some reason you smell really good. I mean, you always smell good, but you smell even better than usual. It's super strange…. Huh. Well, whatever."

He shrugged and sat back, finally removing his nose from her unmentionables. His body language and the delivery of that last comment had been so casual that it took her a long moment to absorb what he'd just said. Then, when it did hit her, it was such a shock that she responded before filtering herself.

"Wait, what?! Did you just say that I smell good?"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth she flushed, realizing that it was embarrassing and confusing enough for him to say it, but for her to repeat it was ridiculous. She should have just dropped the whole subject and tried to figure out what he meant later.

He blinked at her, as usual seeming completely oblivious. "Duh."

She could just feel the sweat dripping down her forehead in shock and perturbation. After that, she clammed up for a long moment and focused on sorting through her clothes silently… but inside, her brain was screaming. Natsu thought she smelled nice. Go figure.

It was… well she couldn't help but find it flustering. Given her romantic inclination towards him, information like that sparked her imagination way, _waaaaay_ too much. It took a lot of force to remind herself that just because he liked the way she smelled did not mean that he liked her as anything more than a friend. He probably thought Erza and Mira smelled nice too. After all, he was a dragon slayer, and dragon slayers had very sensitive noses. Of course scent would play a part in how he saw someone.

It also made her curious, and she suddenly wanted to ask him what she smelled like. But she figured that would probably be wildly inappropriate.

With a sharp head shake, she did her best to clear her mind and just focus on her chores…once again going with the option of ignorance or at least feigned obliviousness. Hopefully, if she could just ignore the strangeness long enough it would go away.

Unfortunately it did not.

No matter how she pretended things were normal, Natsu did not stop acting weird. If anything, as the day progressed he got more and more clingy. When he wasn't touching her, he was certainly close enough to touch, and by the time evening rolled around her nerves were shot.

"Natsu! What is wrong with you?!" she finally yelled as she ran into him once again and reached her limit.

Throwing down the knife that she'd almost just stabbed into the counter, she whirled around and came nearly nose to nose with Natsu who was once again crowding her.

He'd been hovering behind her the whole time she made dinner, and whenever she backed up she bumped into him. She'd very nearly spilled boiling water over herself, had dropped a whole bag of carrots on the floor, and had knocked over a box of salt. Enough was enough.

"What do you mean?"

She could practically feel steam exit her ears. "I mean, what is up with you today?! You've been seriously in my personal space all day!"

Just like before, he simply shrugged. "Dunno, I just feel like being around you."

That was almost the exact same thing he'd said when she asked about it earlier in the day, and her eyebrow started ticking on her forehead.

"And you don't find it strange?!"

"No."

After just staring at him for a long moment, she took a long, deep, cleansing breath and forced herself to calm down. "Alright, fine. Whatever the case, for right now you are going to go sit down at the table. Otherwise I'm not going to feed you."

He pouted but did as she asked. Without his breath on the back of her neck, she managed to finish the beef stew without any more mishaps and soon they were all digging into their food. Happy ate his fish though of course.

While they ate, Lucy broached the topic of the day again.

"So, you said that you don't feel weird or anything?"

With an exaggerated eyeroll, Natsu grunted around his food, "No. I feel just fine. Why're you making such a big deal about it?"

"Because you _are_ acting different, no matter what you say. Come on Happy, back me up here! Isn't Natsu acting a little weird today?"

He nodded and swallowed his fish. "Yep, you've been snuggling up to her all day like you _looooove_ her."

Lucy did her best to ignore the adlibbing on Happy's part and just kept getting at the point she was trying to make. "See?! And you don't even seem to be aware of it. I'm worried that it's something bad…like a spell gone wrong or something."

"Eh… I guess. But I don't really get why it's a problem. What's wrong with me wanting to be closer to you today?"

His delivery was so damn innocent and oblivious that Lucy really just wanted to slap her palms to her face and scream into them. What was wrong with him wanting to be closer to her? Nothing! If it was normal and not totally strange. But this smacked of outside interference and she'd learned to trust her instincts with these kinds of things.

"There's nothing wrong with it, if it was normal. But it just seems like a really sudden change."

"You worry too much Luce."

This continued on for a bit more, but in the end there wasn't enough to go on to really do anything about it anyways. So, Lucy decided that they'd just have to watch the odd behavior and see if it developed into anything, or if it really was some random passing urge Natsu was having.

After dinner, she did the dishes and then parked at her desk and worked on her book while Natsu and Happy lounged on the couch. Everything went just like any other evening they spent together… so much so that Lucy started to feel like the universe was mocking her for making a big deal out of nothing. Or perhaps Natsu was putting in a concentrated effort to keep a normal distance from her just to prove that nothing was wrong.

She wasn't quite sure what to make of it, and the whole thing distracted her to the point that she barely got any work done on her book. In fact, she was so focused on trying to focus, that she failed to hear Natsu come up behind her. So, when she felt a light brush of hair against her cheek and realized he was reading over her shoulder, she flinched violently with a loud yelp.

"How's the book goin'?"

"Jeez Natsu…" she wheezed, trying to rein in her shock and compose herself again. If this kept up much longer she was definitely going to have a heart attack. "It'd go better if you didn't scare the crap out of me!"

He retreated some and snickered. "Oops, sorry Luce."

"Yeah, sorry…sure." she muttered sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

With a sigh, she glanced over at the clock and judged the time. If her shoulders were anything to go by, it was past time for a long hot soak in the tub and then bed. Maybe in the morning things would go back to normal and she could forget all about this strange cuddly behavior of Natsu's.

"Actually, I think it's about time I got ready for bed."

He grumbled something inaudible as she pushed her chair back – nearly pinching his toes under the chair's legs in the process. Once standing, she stretched a little, popped her back, and then headed towards her dresser, dragging out her favorite comfy pajamas. After such a crazy day, she was definitely in need of comfort and pink fluffy bunny patterns.

When she reached the bathroom door and Natsu and Happy hadn't made a move towards the window, she turned and gave them a look.

"Goodnight you guys. See you tomorrow."

Natsu pouted. "How about I just spend the night?"

"Um….no. Not tonight. I need some 'me time.'"

The pout deepened and a distinct note of whininess entered his tone. "Come _ooooon_ Luce. _Pleeeeeaase_?"

"No. Absolutely not. I'm not in the mood to babysit. I've had a hard day full of housecleaning and I'm completely wiped. Shoo."

"We won't be a bother, will we Happy?"

"Aye sir!"

"Don't even try to give me that. If you stay, a mess is inevitable. Plus I know you'll try to sneak into bed with me, and then I'll have to wake up and Lucy Kick you. I just don't have that kind of energy tonight! Now get out before I throw you out!"

Their eyes widened upon her using the, 'I am DONE,' tone, and they finally skedaddled, much to Lucy's immense relief.

"Thank Mavis…" she sighed as she drew herself a big bubble bath and sunk into it. "Please let tomorrow be normal… I don't know if I can take another day of this nonsense."


	2. CH 2: Awkward Mountain Climbing

**Author's Note:**

Hey guys! It's Sunday! And that means a new chapter. ;D

I'm so glad you're all enjoying it so far! And thank you so much for all your wonderful reviews! Big hugs and kisses to NaluGrey, valerioux, DemonicSpider, Firefly9917, BearPlusCat, quidditchChick6, NaLuAlways26, aliciacevbra, Anna5949, HotvampGurl23, Karmitara, 20, GothBanshee, SistershoOk, Katnibal94, and MasterJennfer! You're all so amazing!

Alrighty! Let's get on with it shall we? And be sure to stay tuned till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter. ;D

* * *

"Morning Luce!"

The loud voice permeated her dreaming state seconds before she was jarred awake by someone landing on the bed… and on top of her.

Being violently bounced around quickly roused her, and she immediately responded with a Lucy Kick and a war cry of, "Natsuuuu!"

Unfortunately he happened to be kneeling on the covers in such a way that her leg got tangled up and was unable to deliver the punishment he deserved for waking her in such a rude way. Instead, she just managed to thrash around for a moment and got thoroughly wrapped up in covers until she could barely move at all.

By that point she'd opened her eyes and was glaring at him – and the open window behind him – somewhat blearily.

With a wild swat of her arm she managed to throw the covers off her upper body at least and gestured at him and the window. "How many times have I told you to come through the door! And you don't wake someone up by jumping on top of them and yelling in their ear! What is wrong with you?!"

When she first opened her eyes he'd been on all fours looming over her with his face alarmingly close to hers, but after all the wild gesturing he had sat back on his heels to give her some room to vent without getting smacked in the face.

"Wow Luce, you woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Did ya have a bad dream or something?"

Her eye spasmed in annoyance.

Then, in response to his boneheaded question, she promptly sat up, shoved him off her, and kicked the covers off too. Her duvet flew off the bed and landed on top of the downed dragon slayer, who was bemusedly staring up at her from the floor.

With a list of grumbles, she stepped off the bed and started stomping towards the bathroom, intentionally paying no attention to whether or not he was underfoot. He yipped and rearranged himself speedily so she wouldn't tread on him.

When she passed by the couch, she shot the blue cat sitting there an unamused glance, lumping him in automatically with his companion's irritating behavior. Happy's puffed up cheeks deflated as the amusement drained from his face to be replaced by trepidation at her no-nonsense look. He was smart to have kept his distance.

...

After the unpleasant awakening, the rest of Lucy's morning proceeded in a similarly odd fashion.

As soon as she'd completed her morning ritual, dressed for the day, and exited the bathroom, Natsu was on her like a dog on a bone. He grabbed her wrist and started tugging on it as if to drag her out the door.

"Come on Luce, let's go on a mission today! I saw a couple of cool postings on the board yesterday!"

She was still a bit miffed at him for the abrupt wake-up call, but after being his best friend for so long she'd learned how to blow things off in a matter of minutes. If she hadn't learned that skill, she would be perpetually irritated with the pink-haired bundle of energetic chaos.

"Sure. But let me eat breakfast first." she grumbled, wrestling her arm free of his grip.

He pouted, but then seemed to realize that 'breakfast' meant 'food' and immediately perked up again. As she grabbed the box of cereal and a gallon of milk, she made sure to get out two bowls, knowing that he would join her by either eating out of his own bowl or by picking out of hers. The task was made more difficult though when Natsu insisted on following her around the kitchen, and every time she paused he leaned in so close that his front brushed against her back and she could feel his breath on her neck.

Any hope that yesterday's oddness had been a fluke was completely gone by now, and she was already exhausted despite having just gotten up. If he didn't stop breaking her personal bubble, there were going to be problems.

Even when they sat down to eat, he scooted his chair over so his elbow brushed her every time he took a mouthful. Needless to say, breakfast was awkward… for her at least. Once again, Natsu seemed mostly oblivious.

Naturally, under the circumstances she couldn't get out of the house soon enough – mainly because she hoped that Natsu would reign in the PDA once they were out in public.

She should have known that wouldn't be the case.

Natsu was not a shy kind of guy… not in the slightest. Someone who would bust down the front door of an enemy's hideout and shout, "I'm here to kick your ass!" on an **infiltration** mission was not shy, demure, or – for that matter – familiar with the art of subtlety.

He was loud, straight-forward, blunt, and completely oblivious to social niceties.

As they walked through town to the guildhall, Natsu continued to crowd her. In fact, he was walking _so_ close that she kept having to side-step or risk tripping or losing her balance. It got to the point where she just gave up on personal boundaries and grabbed his elbow to use as a handle. With that, she was able to keep herself at a slight distance which gave her enough space to walk.

Ironically, he shot her a slightly surprised look when she grabbed him – as if _she_ was the one acting abnormal – but thankfully he didn't seem put off by it. His eyebrows rose and he seemed a tad bemused, but then shrugged and grinned.

That at least allowed them to get to the guildhall without too much embarrassment or awkwardness, but once there she let him go. She might as well not have though, because he immediately grabbed her hand and dragged her to the board with it.

When they came to a stop, he kept holding onto her as he perused the board, and she glanced down at their clasped hands with what felt like should be surprise, but by now had turned into exasperated acceptance.

They'd held hands plenty before, but always when they were running either to or from something… and usually Natsu was yanking her along behind him like some kind of overpowered tugboat. However, once they reached their destination, he had always dropped her hand. So, she'd never really had the pleasure of experiencing it without being distracted by the physical activity of keeping up with him.

Unsurprisingly, she found it quite nice. His hand was ridiculously hot, but of course his normal body temperature was always way above most people's, so she wasn't surprised. His fingers were strong, and his palm was callused and scarred, and he held her with a matter-of-fact firmness that perfectly fit with his normal direct way of approaching everything.

In any other circumstance, it would have been heavenly. She would have been on cloud nine, because normally it would mean that he reciprocated her feelings. However, in this situation – while her heart still beat faster and she could feel her cheeks flush – her emotions were more along the lines of concerned, confused, annoyed, and a little sad. A tiny flutter of hope was desperately trying to survive the mood storm, but she shoved it down. It was better to assume that this was the work of some spell, rather than let herself hope he was growing feelings for her and just didn't know how to express them.

A while back, she had let herself hope he was interested in her, only for the whole thing to turn out utterly unlike what she'd expected. He had been acting different and had wanted to meet with her alone later that evening so that he could tell her something 'special.' Unsurprisingly she had let her imagination run away with her and had thought that maybe this was it… that he was finally asking her on a date and wanted to confess some kind of feelings for her. Then, when she'd shown up, it had turned out that he simply wanted her to help him dig up some kind of secret photo album that he had heard was buried under a tree.

The experience had been so mortifying and had crushed her hopes so thoroughly that she promised herself she'd never make that stupid mistake ever again. Natsu was simply asexual and that was all there was to it.

Therefore, this current situation had to be the work of a spell gone wrong or something similar. There was no point in letting herself get her hopes up yet again, only for them to be smashed apart. So, once again, she did her best to ignore his clingy behavior and focused on the mission board in front of them.

Given that Natsu was obviously experiencing something out of the ordinary, she wanted a mission that was close by and could be completed within a day, just in case his symptoms got worse. As it was, she already wasn't sure how they could do a mission with him clinging to her like some kind of tree lizard.

Thankfully, there was a simple retrieval mission on the board requesting that they harvest some snow berries from Mt. Hakobe. It would be tedious for sure, and cold, but at least they wouldn't be in the public eye and they could do it together without having to split up. Reaching up with her free hand, she plucked the notice free and waved it in front of Natsu's nose.

"Here's one."

He looked it over and then pouted, like it wasn't packed with enough action, but in the end he shrugged and said, "Sure."

After handing the mission off to Mira, Lucy hightailed it out of the guildhall as fast as possible to avoid trouble. She'd seen the way the whitehaired barmaid had eyeballed them holding hands, and Lucy feared Mira's matchmaking schemes more than just about anything else.

Much to Natsu's displeasure, they ended up taking a train to the base of the mountain, and he spent the whole ride with his head in her lap while she hoped that he wouldn't vomit all over her. Chatting with Happy helped to distract her from the potential danger, though she had to ignore his occasional joking comments. Luckily, Natsu usually spent transportation trips in her lap, so the blue cat was used to it enough that he didn't make a ginormous deal over it.

Thankfully Natsu somehow managed to keep his cookies and not toss them onto her lap, so when they arrived at their stop she didn't need to figure out how to take a shower in the station bathroom. There had been a few times that she had purged from her memory where she'd had to learn that specific art.

However, they did have to wait around until he had perked back up before they could start heading up the mountain. It was a bit embarrassing when he insisted on lying down on the bench with his head in her lap again, but that did seem to help him recover faster, and they were on their way within a few minutes.

This time around, Lucy had been smart and brought her warmest clothes so she wouldn't have to ride in Horologium again like a wuss. Those incidents were downright embarrassing, and whenever she had to resort to that the others would tease her mercilessly for weeks.

But that sure as heck wasn't going to happen today. Thanks to her thick parka, scarf, gloves, pants, wooly socks, heavy sweater, thermal underwear, and boots, she was actually prepared…. Which was a blessing, because naturally it was snowing before they'd made it halfway up the godforsaken mountain.

Lucy liked snow, but not THIS much snow. The wind was no laughing matter either, because it blew the snow right in your face and into any unprotected nook or cranny that might be exposed. Even with her warm clothes she found herself quite chilly. For the first time since this whole 'Natsu-is-extra-cuddly' business began, she was ridiculously glad that he insisted on walking right next to her. His body heat kept a lot of the chill at bay as they trekked through the damn snow.

It was a long way up to the summit, and by the time they got there Lucy was beyond ready to leave.

"L-L-Let's find these s-s-stupid berries and g-g-get out of here!"

"Aye S-S-Sir!" Happy chattered right back, his teeth clicking together just like hers.

Only Natsu remained annoyingly unaffected by the cold. As such, he was more interested in sticking close to Lucy than splitting up and looking for berries. On the one hand, that did slow them down, but… she couldn't find it in herself to send away his welcome warmth. So they ended up searching together.

She curled into his side and they crab-walked through the snow, sort of crouched over so they could reach the ground and rustle through the frozen precipitation to find the berries.

Lucy's gloves were soon drenched, and after a little while she stood up and pulled them off. Then she proceeded to desperately scrub her hands on her coat to try and get some feeling back into her poor frozen fingers. All the fussing soon got Natsu's attention, and he also stood to give her a confused and fairly amused look as he watched her practically hopping in place while she whimpered and rubbed her hands together.

'_Note to self: get waterproof gloves,'_ she thought as she warded off frostbite.

"Need some help with that Luce?" Natsu asked after watching for at least a couple of minutes.

His smirk was almost enough to make her say, 'no thanks,' but in the end she figured it wasn't worth potentially losing a finger over.

"Yes! You could have offered sooner you know!"

"Or you could have asked." he shot back.

She didn't have an appropriate rebuttal, so she just thrust out her hands, palm up, and silently pleaded for him to do something about it.

Thankfully he got with the picture. He grabbed both her wrists and pulled her hands towards him using that grip. She kind of expected him to rub her hands between his or something and was taken aback when he pulled her hands up to his face instead. As he nestled his chin, mouth, and nose in her cupped palms – looking for all the world like he was about to drink or eat something out of them – she blushed and blustered, utterly confused.

"What're you…?" she started, but then shut up and gaped at him in shock when he opened his mouth and breathed into her hands.

He didn't quite breathe fire, obviously that would have burned her, but it felt like he came damn close. It was just as effective as dunking her frozen appendages into a tub of HOT water, and it stung just as badly. She yelped and flinched back, but he didn't let her hands go and she didn't try to pull them away from him. This was simply a process that would hurt, no matter the method, and there wasn't really any getting around that. So, she put up with it.

After a while, the stinging eased up some and the pain started turning into painful pleasure. The heat seemed to seep into her very bones, and it was positively blissful for the warmth-loving Lucy… especially after halfway turning into a popsicle. Now if only she could feel that on the rest of her chilly skin, she'd be in heaven.

… of course that would require Natsu to breathe all over her body…

That random thought caused her to jerk and pull away as she opened eyes that she hadn't even realized were closed.

"Alright! That's enough, thanks Natsu."

"Anytime." he said with another of his grins, and on anyone else it would have come across as flirty.

Ignoring her slight blush – which thankfully didn't manifest because of the cold – she responded with, "Well in that case, here. Can you dry these off for me?"

In a matter of seconds she was holding bone dry, toasty warm gloves and slid them back onto her hands with a sigh of relief.

After that little misadventure, she regularly had him dry off her gloves and heat them for her so she wouldn't get so frozen again.

It took at least another twenty glove drying sessions – and plenty more shivering from her and Happy – before they finally unearthed their price.

"Yes! It's about time!" she crowed, and quickly spun Natsu around so she could get to his backpack. A little rooting around found her the small refrigerated box that the berries would go into.

Once the box was full, they latched it, shoved it back into Natsu's pack, and then hightailed it off the mountain. Darkness was already starting to fall and the temperature was dropping by the second, so the sooner they could get to a lower elevation, the better. This time it was Lucy who was dragging Natsu along by his wrist… though he easily kept up with her, so it wasn't truly 'dragging.'

It turned out to be lucky that they were in such close contact though, because about an hour into the downward journey Lucy very nearly slipped right off the mountain. Her foot skidded on a frozen rock, and she would have hit the ground butt first and slid off the icy path they were skirting, except Natsu instantly switched who was grabbing who and his fingers clamped around her wrist instead. With a sharp tug, he'd yanked her back into him. His arms wrapped around her waist and squeezed tight, halting all wayward movement that could have dangerous consequences.

When she'd been falling, of course her limbs had thrashed around trying to right herself, but she went immediately stiff and then limp when Natsu locked her in a safe bearhug. A wave of shivers skated down her form as the realization of what almost just happened really slammed home and she refused to look over the cliff she'd nearly introduced herself to. That had been way too close.

"…thanks N-N-Natsu." she managed to whisper after a moment, her voice coming out small and frightened.

"Yeah, let's not go flying off the mountain, alright? Although the exercise might help warm up Happy."

Said blue cat peered over his shoulder and frowned down at her. "I d-d-don't know, she's awfully heavy…and m-m-my paws are so cold I don't know if I c-c-could hold her."

Aside from the normal '_Lucy-is-fat_' joke, she could tell that Happy was actually being pretty serious. Based off how hard he was visibly shivering, she didn't doubt that he'd have trouble making his paws work properly. Heck, she didn't know if she could have made her hands work properly enough to catch herself on the lip of the cliff.

The moment eventually turned a little awkward though when Natsu continued to hold her like that, and after a while she cleared her throat and tugged at his arms. "Um…okay, you c-c-can let go n-n-now."

He reluctantly did so with a fair amount of unintelligible grumbling, but she still stuck close to him on the rest of the way down – which wasn't hard since he refused to completely release her. She also forced herself to slow down a bit despite the frigid temperature, and thankfully they soon reached a low enough elevation that the falling night didn't turn them into ice cubes.

As soon as they were off the icy cliffs, Lucy picked up the pace again. They had to book it back to the train station to catch a decent timed ride. If they missed the 9 o'clock train, they'd have to wait till 1 AM before the next train could take them home, and Lucy just wasn't in the mood to nap in the station until then. Not to mention that Natsu would probably lose his limited patience and just force them all to walk home – which would take all freaking night.

And then there was the matter of his PDA problem.

She'd been so thankful for the added warmth up on the mountain that she hadn't really paid attention to the fact that his sense of personal space had apparently reduced in size yet again, and now he was practically plastered to her. He insisted on walking half a step behind her so that the left side of his front bumped into the right side of her back on every step. As such, his left foot had to step with her right foot, otherwise he would kick her in the calf, and she stepped on his toes more than once – nearly tripping several times because of it.

No matter how she shifted or walked, he stuck right to her, not letting her put any distance between them at all. If it hadn't been Natsu, she would have found the strange behavior beyond creepy…. Heck, even _**with**_ Natsu it was disturbing.

The trend didn't stop there either. While they sat waiting for their 9 o'clock train, he sat so close that his thigh, hip, and side were plastered to hers…to the point where there wasn't even any room for their arms. It took her elbowing him in the ribs at least ten times before he scooted back enough for her arm to not feel like the filling in a squashed sandwich. She also had to shed most of her outer layers of clothing thanks to his heat and had sweated through most of her under layers.

It got to the point where she resolved that they'd better have another little chat once they got back to the privacy of her apartment. Surely now he realized that something was up…this behavior was just not normal.

With that in mind, she was exceptionally antsy to get on the train and go home as soon as possible, so they could hopefully get some of this strangeness resolved. She also really wanted to get into a semi-private booth where she wouldn't feel quite so self-conscious about Natsu's incessant PDA.

Of course, when the train finally did arrive and they boarded, Natsu found yet another new way to make her uncomfortable.

He once again put his head in her lap… but this time he buried his face into her stomach. Of all the times they'd ridden various modes of transportation together, he'd never put his head in her lap _**that**_ way, and she found herself flustered for what felt like the millionth time in the past two days. Her shirt was no protection against his hot breath, and she could clearly feel it painting her belly with warmth. It was a stupidly intimate sensation that had her heart racing like it was trying to run away from the mass invasion of over-excitable butterflies taking over her insides.

His retching and heaves seemed better this time around though, so at least she was less worried about potential bile stains. He'd started out just as miserable as usual, but once he buried his head in her stomach his breathing changed to big deep inhales, and that seemed to somehow sooth him.

Despite her discomfort with the whole situation, she still ran her fingers through his hair the way she always did in these situations and tried to ignore how wonderfully soft his pink spikes were.

It had been an accident the first time she did it – sort of an absent-minded thing – but after he told her that it had helped the nausea, she started always doing it whenever he had motion sickness. She certainly didn't mind. In fact, normally she allowed herself to indulge and enjoy the intimacy…. but with all the strangeness going on, she figured that it was probably prudent to rein in her emotions as much as possible.

At the very least, Happy was curled up on the bench across from them and had fallen asleep… which was good because Lucy didn't really feel like dealing with any more of his ridiculous, _'you loooove him_,' jokes at the moment.

After a while, in an attempt to distract herself, she commented on Natsu's surprising apparent lack of nausea. "You seem to be doing better than usual. Is the train smoother or something?"

He grunted what sounded like a negative and then huffed, "Your scent is distracting me."

His voice was rougher than usual, sort of gravelly and husky, and she assumed it was thanks to the discomfort of the nausea. However, it sent shivers down her spine and immediately brought to mind a whole variety of inappropriate subject matter that made her wonder what was wrong with her brain. She instantly flushed and wished she'd kept her mouth shut. That certainly hadn't helped her problem…. it had just made things a whole lot more confusing and embarrassing.

Thus, the rest of the ride was spent in fantastically awkward silence.

The uncomfortable atmosphere lingered even after exiting the train and was still in effect when they dropped off the berries at the guildhall, so Lucy just handed them off to Mira and pleaded exhaustion to escape quickly. By the time they finally made it back to her apartment, she was at the end of her rope.

As soon as they walked through the door, she whirled on him and poked her finger into his chest. "Alright, seriously, what's going on? Whatever was happening yesterday has obviously gotten worse! _Please_ tell me that you've finally realized this isn't normal!"

"Well…" he scratched the back of his neck and flushed just a tiny bit, which was highly unusual for him. "Yeah…I guess the urge to be close to you has gotten stronger. I dunno what's going on…. Today it's kinda felt like I have to stay touching you or else I feel really weird."

"Weird how?"

"It's like…an itch I have to scratch."

Well… that was ever so slightly insulting, but it certainly gave her a good idea of what he was feeling. There had been many times when she'd been bitten by a bug and had suffered trying to keep her nails away from it. If that was truly the same kind of urge he felt, then she could understand why he kept touching her.

"Huh. Yeah, that's definitely weird." she agreed, frowning and trying to think of what might be causing this problem.

"Uh-huh. And…" Once again he looked just a tiny bit uncomfortable. "Your scent is getting better and better. It's like… drawing me to you or something."

As he said that, his nose flared and he took a step closer – but it almost looked like he hadn't even noticed, as if it had been completely subconscious.

"Oh…kay. That's um…that's pretty strange too. So… you're finally admitting that this isn't normal?"

He heaved a sigh. "Yeah, you were right. Something's definitely off."

"Thank Mavis. I'm so glad you've finally seen the light…it'll make this a lot easier." She matched his sigh with a relieved one of her own, then shook herself together and got down to business. "Alright, first things first. We've gotta figure out what's going on. Did this just start yesterday?"

"I think so."

"Then retrace your steps. What happened before you came to the guildhall?"

"Nothing much…."

"What about that potion shop we visited?" Happy interjected, and Natsu's eyes lit up.

"Oh right! Thank little buddy, almost forgot about that. Yeah! We found this awesome potion shop and I bought one that was guaranteed to increase a person's fire magic." Then he pouted and mumbled, "Though I haven't noticed any difference…guess it was a dud."

At that, Lucy's eye ticked. "You took a strange potion? Really?! After everything we've experienced with potions going wrong?! Do you remember that time I was turned invisible?! Or the time Juvia tried to make Grey fall in love with her and the whole guild ended up going insane?! And it didn't strike you as weird that you suddenly had strange urges and shit after drinking said potion?! Why didn't you tell me this yesterday?!"

He winced back a little and one eye squinted closed at her bombardment. "Yeah, yeah, jeez. It's not like I got the thing on the side of the road. I bought it from a potion shop, like I said."

She forcibly calmed herself down. After all, she was known to use potions on a regular basis, so it wasn't like she could really blame Natsu…she was just irritated that he hadn't connected the dots sooner.

After a bracing breath, she more calmly continued, "Okay… is that the only thing out of the ordinary that happened yesterday?"

"Yep." He glanced at Happy – who had taken shelter behind him when Lucy blew a gasket – and the blue cat nodded in agreement.

"Then I'd say it's a safe bet that the potion has something to do with this. First thing tomorrow, we're going to that potion maker and asking what the hell was in the potion you took."

"Sure thing Luce."

He was still leaning back a bit and looked tense, like he was waiting for her to blow up again. When she didn't, he slowly relaxed again and Happy popped out from behind him.

She plodded over to the couch and plopped down on it, throwing bags, coat, boots, gloves, scarf, and everything else on the floor as she did. It had been an exhausting day, and she leaned back against the arm of the couch with a groan, trying to round up the energy required to get ready for bed.

She'd eaten on the train, but knew Natsu was probably hungry, so she flapped her hand at the fridge. "Help yourself Natsu, we can go grocery shopping tomorrow."

His eyes lit up and he made a beeline for the appliance she'd pointed out. "Thanks Luce!"

Happy also eagerly joined the dragon slayer in the kitchen and ate the fish he had tucked away in his pack. He had eaten on the train like Lucy, but the fish-loving cat never passed up an opportunity to indulge in his favorite food.

Meanwhile, Lucy eventually heaved herself off the couch and plodded into the bathroom. She dragged her pajamas with her and sleepily stumbled through her nighttime routine while listening to her kitchen being demolished. Crashes and bangs that normally would have had her running out there to fuss at them didn't even faze her. Everything had suddenly caught up with her all at once after she'd blown up at Natsu, and as soon as the temper tantrum was over her energy had wilted away to nothing. Now, all she wanted was to crawl into bed and sleep off this whole ridiculous day.

When she was finally done, she left the bathroom and managed to get to the bed, even though her feet felt like they weighed way too much and tempted her to stop early at the couch. With a sigh, she flopped onto her mattress and listened to Natsu finishing up his dinner. Even that racket wasn't enough to keep her from dozing, but she forced herself to remain awake enough that when he finally finished and came over to investigate what she was up to, she woke back up.

"Hey, before you go could you turn out all the lights? I don't wanna get up again."

"Sure." he huffed, and within a few minutes the room was plunged into darkness.

"Thanks."

She sighed and rolled over, fully expecting him to hop on the bed and then out the window like he normally would. However, silence met her and she could feel him staring at her.

"Hey Luce? Can I stay?"

At that, she frowned and rolled back over to face him. She even cranked herself up on an elbow so she could give a little extra oomph to her incredulous stare. "I know you stay here a lot without permission…but when have I EVER said you could sleep here?"

It was true enough, she woke up to the sight of Natsu sprawled on her couch, the floor, and sometimes even with her in bed on a disturbingly frequent basis. She'd never given him permission to do that though. In fact, she normally chewed him out when she found him in her apartment without permission, and whenever she woke to him in her bed he was ousted with a sturdy Lucy Kick.

He'd also NEVER asked to stay before, so she was thrown for a loop.

He shuffled around in place for a moment, and she couldn't see his face in the darkness, but she could tell from his body language that he was feeling uncomfortable. That was the second time today that he'd acted flustered… which was a record. Natsu was very _rarely_ uncomfortable or embarrassed. He possessed less shame than patience, and that was saying something.

"Please?"

At that, her jaw dropped. She was pretty sure that word had never passed Natsu's lips…. Or if it had, it was probably because either she or Erza had smacked him around for being impolite to someone of importance. But normally he had no need for such a word, because he usually didn't ask for stuff. If he wanted something, he often just took it…. And whenever he _did_ ask, it generally came across as more of a declaration or a demand. Really, he was so straightforward that he often came off as downright rude.

Her shocked musings were cut off when he cleared his throat and shifted his feet again, before softly asking, "Luce?"

"Oh, right! Sorry, I was just a little surprised. Um…"

She thought about what could possibly have driven him to such lengths, and quickly came up with the obvious answer. "Is this because of your, uh, urges?"

"Yeah…leaving you feels really, really wrong somehow. I don't think I'd be able to sleep if I did."

She was stunned by his honesty and couldn't think of anything to say to his statement. Kicking him out now would feel cruel, knowing that he'd be uncomfortable all night if she did. So, she heaved a sigh and let her arm slip out from under her so she flopped dramatically on the bed.

"Alright, you can stay. On the couch though."

"Yay! A sleepover at Lucy's place!" Happy chirped from his place already on the couch.

"Yeah little buddy, we're gonna have a slumber party." Natsu responded happily.

Lucy wiggled around in bed until she was comfortable again. "I dunno about 'party'…" she mumbled, already half asleep. "Count me out of any pillow fights."

"Aye Sir!"

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_Natsu lost his patience first of course. "Or what?! Come on, spit it out Levy!" _

_"Well…if it's the right season…it could even cause a dragon slayer to go into heat." _

_Lucy felt herself sweat-drop. "I'm sorry, what did you say? A slayer going into heat? Like a dog or cat? That can't be real. Who wrote that book?" _

_"It's real." _

_She was reaching for the book to inspect it when Natsu spoke, and she froze mid-reach. "What? You're kidding right?"_


	3. CH 3: In Heat?

**Author's Note:**

(Alternatively known as 'Lucy Finds Out She's Screwed') I had trouble deciding on the title of the chapter, so I thought you might like to see the alternative. XD

Hello, hello! It's Sunday! And you know what that means... donuts! Wait, no... I mean, a new chapter! Ahem. Anyways...

As always, a huge, thunderous, wondrous thanks to all my lovely reviewers out there! Big hugs and kisses to: illleashya, NaLuAlways26, MysteryReader7311, valerioux, Anna5949, GothBanshee, aliciacevbra, NaluGrey, dani-yell10, BearPlusCat, thetrywriter, quidditchChick6, LovelyLovelyLove, Karmitara, SistershOK, blue02eclipse, and KittyBelle133! And special thanks to the guest who let me know that I'd forgotten to tag Natsu and Lucy as the main characters!

Alrighty then! On with the show! And you know the drill...stay till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter. ;D

* * *

Lucy was having the strangest dream.

She was being chased by some undefined figure that she didn't want to catch her. Strangely, she wasn't exactly _frightened_, so much as irritated at being chased and having to run. The dream then shifted and she was running through snow, though the chase element soon drifted away to be replaced by searching. Now she was the pursuer, looking for something in the snow.

She bent down to dig through the snow… and strangely it was warm instead of freezing cold. This didn't quite make sense, but she was so surprised and delighted by the hot snow that she laughed and spontaneously grabbed fistfuls to throw up into the air. It sprinkled back down of course, and a lot of it seemed to land on her neck, which started to tickle. After a while, she brushed at her neck and discovered something there…something soft and furry.

At that point she was starting to wake up, but her mind was still fully offline. Snow turned into a bed, though she still kind of thought it might be made of the warm fluffy element. It was certainly comfortable…quite toasty actually. But something alive was definitely behind her, and for a second her dreamy mind became concerned. _Was it an animal? Would it bite her?_

Hot breath drifted over her neck and exposed shoulder, and she realized her shirt had been dragged down on that side to expose a good deal of skin. When she started to sit up so she could get a look at the thing behind her, an arm she previously hadn't noticed tightened around her waist, which told her that it was a person.

The realization made her wake up a bit more, and then she groaned and flopped back down onto the mattress, now knowing exactly who had invaded her bed – which she had determined was not made of snow. No, she was in her apartment, in her own bed, and Natsu was spooning her. As she slowly continued to wake up, memories of last night drifted through her mind, and she realized he must have been unable to stay on the couch…which she probably should have predicted.

Despite the extra occupant, she was sleepy enough to close her eyes and contemplate just going back to sleep… with the hope that Natsu had the good sense to remove himself before she woke up the second time. If he didn't, she'd definitely have to Lucy Kick him just to keep up pretenses. Give that guy an inch and he'd take a mile.

She almost completely fell back asleep, so she didn't notice at first when he nuzzled closer and buried his face in the back of her neck. The ticklish sensation of something messing with her hair made her shiver, but she was just asleep enough to enjoy the sensation. She lazily wondered how he could stand breathing with a face full of hair, or how he could breath at all. After a while, most of said hair got shoved up above her head as Natsu apparently decided he'd had enough of that.

The roughness suggested he was about as awake as she was…which was still not very much. It must be insanely early, the light coming through her window said dawn had only just cracked, and she was still tired from yesterday. He was damn lucky for that, otherwise she never would have let herself indulge. Because it _was _an indulgence… a guilty pleasure that she normally would never let herself enjoy. It was way too dangerous, because it invited in too many emotions that she'd have to wrap up and pack away later once she fully woke up. Love could be such a pain in the ass sometimes.

_But just this once couldn't hurt, right?_

With a sigh she relaxed even more, letting herself drift. It was nice. Natsu was like a space heater and her back was deliciously toasty warm – a sensation she was familiar with from all the times she woke up next to him, but one that she'd never let herself enjoy before. Frankly it was something she could get used to and grow to love.

Lucy happened to adore warmth – she preferred hot weather, liked boiling hot baths, and had a super thick warm comforter on her bed. Of course the fact that it was Natsu providing this particular warmth made it special and extra enjoyable. She simply couldn't fight against it and quickly fell back asleep.

This time around, her dreams were full of pink hair, bright grins, and warmth. Dreaming about Natsu wasn't an uncommon occurrence for her, considering she was always around him. It made perfect sense for him to star in her dreams quite often, especially given her feelings for him. She quite frequently had dreams that made her slightly miserable once she woke and realized that she'd been asleep.

This was one of those kinds of dreams, with soft touches, kisses, warm breath, and skin touching skin.

So, when she finally did start waking up a few hours later, her first instinct was to resist and hold onto the dream. She always tried to keep them going just a few more precious moments, but of course always failed. With a sigh, she eventually gave in somewhat sadly and opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling. For a long moment she worked on putting all her feelings away, finding it a bit more difficult than usual thanks to how insanely vivid her dreams had been last night.

She figured it was only natural, given the issues she'd been having with Natsu the past two days, but it certainly didn't make anything easier for her. Hopefully visiting the potion shop today would shed a little light on the problem and fix it before she went insane.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a heavy band of warmth tightening around her waist and something even heavier shifting on her right thigh. Her right arm suddenly realized that it was sandwiched between her and something firm – which turned out to be a wall of muscle.

She froze, abruptly realizing that part of what she'd thought was a dream had actually been real. Natsu _had_ snuck into her bed and was now wrapped around her – with his leg over hers, his arm around her middle, and his head in the crook of her neck. It was frankly shocking that she hadn't noticed it sooner, but she had been so wrapped up in putting away her emotions that she hadn't bothered to pay enough attention to her surroundings.

Of all the times she'd woken up with him in bed with her, he had never been cuddled up to her quite like this before. Usually there was at least some space between their bodies…. Which definitely wasn't the case at the moment.

He was obviously still asleep, based off his strange version of snoring that rumbled in her right ear. Natsu didn't really _snore_… rather, it sounded more like he rhythmically growled in his sleep. His inhales were silent, but his exhales contained a deep animal-like rumble… which she had teased him about before by comparing it to purring. However, since his best friend was a cat, he hadn't been as offended as she'd thought he would be, so that joke had died relatively quickly.

Of course, she would never tell him that she actually found the sound very pleasant.

She remained frozen in shock a few moments longer… which turned out to be a few moments too long. Before she'd rallied her senses properly, he nuzzled further into her neck until his nose was brushing against her skin. Then, to her utter and absolute stunned disbelief, heated lips touched her skin as he started kissing her neck…if what he was doing could be called kissing. It was more like he was nuzzling his mouth and chin against her. That was bad enough, but then his lips parted and started to investigate her skin with gentle movements that were definitely kiss-like but were maybe closer to nibbles.

Or perhaps she was just overanalyzing the sensation because she couldn't believe that Natsu would ever kiss her…. Or that he even knew how to kiss.

Whatever the case, the warm, ticklish, gentle, and overall pleasurable sensation stunned her into frozen immobility for a few more seconds. His lips were ever so slightly rough from being a little chapped, but the light scratchiness just added an extra zing to the feel of his mouth on her. Hot moist breath made her skin flush, and she gasped for air – as if she were in a too-hot steam room.

The light tap of an even hotter, wetter sensation shot energy into her muscles and she abruptly regained use of her limbs when she realized his tongue had just touched her. She launched out of the bed so violently that the offending dragon slayer was knocked onto the ground alongside most of the pillows and covers.

He landed with a grunt, a series of loud garbled cusses, and then thrashed around in the tangled grip of sheets and comforter.

"Wha'the…fuckin'…fuck…wha'jus'happen'd?

His words were muffled and strung together to the point that she could barely understand him, but she got the gist of it. She was also shaken and mad enough to not care. Covering her discomfort with anger was easy, and she was all for easy right now.

Grabbing the blanket, she yanked, and he tumbled out of it in a tangle of limbs. Some more squawks and cusses came from him but were silenced as soon as he looked up and saw her standing over him with her hands on her hips and eyes blazing. Happy – who had been woken up by the racket – peeped like a baby chick and took refuge behind the couch.

"Natsu! I told you to sleep on the couch! What were you doing in my bed?! Do you even know how to follow instruction?! Or do you deliberately break the rules for shits and giggles?!"

"Whoops, sorry Luce." he chuckled awkwardly, looking a little contrite but not nearly enough for her liking.

When he saw her anger ratchet up another few notches, his eyes widened and he seemed to take her a little more seriously. Before she could Lucy Kick him, he hurried to say, "I don't even remember getting into bed with you!"

That diffused some of her anger and she frowned in suspicion. "Seriously? You don't remember getting off the couch, lifting up the covers, and getting into bed?"

He squinted hard as if trying to remember. "I mean…not really?"

"Define, 'not really.' Either you do or you don't."

"I mean…I think I was basically asleep when I moved. I remember kind of sleeping, but badly. Your scent was too far away, so I think I ended up just following it to you. But I was half asleep and it's all fuzzy."

Finally, her irritation at him fizzled away to be replaced with milder aggravation at the situation in general. She really couldn't blame him for something outside of his control.

With a sigh, she turned away. "Alright…well I guess it couldn't be helped. You get a free pass this one time. Let's just get ready and go figure out what's going on."

So saying, she put words to action and walked over to her dresser to grab an outfit, intending to take it into the bathroom with her and get ready for the day all at once. Natsu immediately jumped up and followed her, which she'd halfway expected, so she wasn't surprised by the feeling of his presence RIGHT behind her. It was just like yesterday, but she very quickly discovered one huge difference as she dug into her dresser draws and pulled out clothes.

All her motions ceased when his arms wrapped around her and he leaned in, pressing the length of his body against hers. Then, his head ducked down and burrowed into her neck… his chin, lips, and nose rubbing against her as he nuzzled. She felt the sensation of hot breath puffing over her skin in big exhales – probably because he was sniffing at her with deep inhales, which was incredibly strange all by itself.

"He _looooooves_ you."

She shot Happy an irritated look, and growled, "Shut it, Cat."

He just puffed up his cheeks and laughed at them.

As annoying as the blue pest was, he had successfully snapped her out of her shock, and now she cleared her throat awkwardly and said, "Uh, but seriously though Natsu… what are you doing?"

"Can't help it…" he mumbled into her skin, and she had to suppress a shiver at the feeling of his lips moving against her.

"Well you'd better try, because we can't walk around like this in public."

"Why not?"

"Because it's embarrassing! And aside from that, we can't even really _walk_ like this. Remember yesterday? I was tripping all over you!"

He heaved a sigh, which blew hot air all down her front and she had a harder time suppressing her shiver this time around. "I guess."

"Well I _know_." she huffed.

After a long moment where he didn't release her, she tugged at his wrists. "Uh, so could you let me go? I need to get ready so we can go figure out what's going on."

He grumbled but reluctantly unclamped his arms from her waist and she hurriedly grabbed everything she needed and dashed to the bathroom before he could latch on again. Once safely behind closed doors, she sped through her morning routine, eager to get this thing figured out. The sooner the better as far as she was concerned. If she had to put up with any more 'cuddly-Natsu,' she was sure that she would have a permanent blush stamped across her face. She might also have a heart attack or go insane or spontaneously combust… none of which were really on her to-do list.

After whipping through everything that needed to happen in the bathroom, she rushed back out into the apartment and then scooted into the kitchen before Natsu could grab her again. He shadowed her of course, and as soon as she stopped in front of the pantry to grab some granola bars, he huddled close and wrapped around her again.

She sighed and her head thunked back against his shoulder so she could stare up towards the ceiling and heaven, asking for some kind of guidance.

After a moment of trying very hard, and failing, to ignore the sensation of Natsu snuffling along the entire column of her neck from ear to shoulder, she cleared her throat.

From somewhere in the apartment, Happy said, "You must smell really good Lucy. Natsu keeps sniffing you."

"Yeah, she does." Natsu affirmed.

"Does she smell like fish?!"

"Nuh-huh. Nope. She doesn't smell like food at all."

"Oh…" Happy sounded ridiculously disappointed, and Lucy had a really hard time keeping herself from laughing. The sound probably wouldn't have come out right and would have likely exposed just how shaky she felt at the moment, so it was better not to vocalize it.

It was also best to just ignore the completely ridiculous conversation going on around her, and instead she focused on the issue at hand.

Carefully modulating her voice to sound as natural as possible, she said, "Okay, we're obviously going to need to set a few ground rules. Do you think you could at least refrain from grabbing me like this? It's going to be hard to get anything done if I have to pry you off me every time I stop."

"Yeah, I think I can do that." he grumbled, sounding a little sulky but overall amenable.

She felt his arms twitch a couple of times, but then he dropped them. His hands hovered at her sides awkwardly, obviously wanting to put them somewhere, but he didn't touch her.

As soon as she was released, she quickly took a few steps away and then turned to shove a granola bar in his face. Using food as a distraction was her last hope, and thankfully it still seemed to work. His eyes lit up and he grabbed the offered food item before digging into it.

That was one problem solved… now they needed to figure out how the hell they were going to get to the potion shop without making a fool of themselves.

"Do you think you could just put your arm over my shoulders or something as we walk? Instead of walking behind me?"

"Yeah, that'd probably work." Natsu agreed with a mouthful of granola.

"Good, then let's get going already."

He nodded and they headed out. Following her suggestion, he draped his arm around her shoulders and tucked her into his side as they walked, and it worked out exactly like she'd hoped it would. Now they just looked like a normal couple out for a walk, instead of some creeper shadowing her steps and sniffing her every time they stopped. Not that the sniffing and nuzzling completely stopped. At her request, he held off as much as he could, but every now and then the urge apparently overwhelmed him and he ducked his head to nose at her neck for a brief moment before facing forwards. Thankfully, she doubted it looked too strange.

Finally, Natsu stopped in front of a small potion shop and she gave it a sharp eyeball. Honestly it looked clean, well maintained, reputable, and definitely not what she'd expected. She had thought it was probably some kind of shady potion shack at the edge of town.

Frowning in confusion, she entered with Natsu and Happy, and a little chime over the door announced their entrance.

A kind looking middle aged woman came out of the back and smiled at them. "Hello! What can you do for you today?"

"Um, yes. Hello." Lucy said as she stepped forwards. "My friend here tells me that he bought a potion here two days ago and he's been having some very strange…side effects since then."

"Oh dear! Please tell me everything, and I'll do whatever I can to help." the lady exclaimed, her eyes widening with concern.

They walked up to the counter, and Natsu quickly picked out the potion he'd bought from a lineup behind the counter. "That one! That's the one I took."

"Oh, the potion to increase your fire magic?" she asked while reaching for the bottle he'd pointed at.

"Yep, that's it."

"Maybe you'd better smell it to make sure it's exactly the same." Lucy suggested, and Natsu nodded, reaching for the bottle.

"I can assure you that every batch is the same, I am very careful with my measurements. It makes the difference between a potion that does what you want it to, and a potion that might have unforeseen consequences." the potion maker assured, but she popped the top off the bottle and let Natsu get a whiff of it.

He nodded. "Yep, it's exactly the same."

The lady smile and capped it again. "Now, what sort of symptoms are you encountering? The most common side effects of this potion are a fever or feeling overheated, excessive sweating, and sometimes an upset stomach."

"Well, I did feel hot and itchy afterwards, but that sort of went away. Or, actually it's kind of still there, but it changed into something else. Now I've been experiencing these weird urges, and if I don't follow the urge I feel that hot itchy sensation again, and it's getting worse and worse. It's like I've got a fire in my belly…but one that just gets stronger and stronger, and I can't get rid of it unless I satisfy the urge."

Rosemary – according to the lady's nametag – looked confused. "The hot and itchy sensation and the fire in your stomach are along the lines of normal symptoms. Unfortunately I have no idea what might be causing your 'urges.' Could you describe them to me?"

"I feel like I always have to be in close contact with Lucy."

She blinked. "That's…extremely strange. I cannot imagine how my potion could have affected you that way. However, if those urges are connected to the symptoms you experienced directly after taking the potion, then it must be somehow connected."

"That's what we thought." Lucy agreed, but she was disappointed that the potion master had no idea what was causing Natsu's problem. "I guess we could just get another of the same potion and take it to Levy to run some tests on."

"You can have this one for free for your trouble."

"Thank you so much!" Lucy exclaimed with surprise. Any suspicion or irritation she had felt towards the woman who'd sold Natsu such a troublesome potion dissipated with her willingness to help.

And so, they took the extra potion and left, immediately heading for the guildhall and hopefully Levy. Once again, they walked with Natsu's arm over Lucy's shoulders, and he continued to do his best to keep his sniffer to himself. He did an okay job, but there were some lapses in his self-control that never ceased to make her blush.

She was mildly dreading the trek through the guildhall, knowing that a certain whitehaired barmaid would immediately latch onto the intimate way they were walking together, but Lucy was so focused on getting to Levy that she didn't plan ahead how to deal with it. That was something that she instantly regretted when they finally made it to the guildhall and entered, heading for the library. They would have to pass fairly close to the bar to get to the door that would lead them to the guild's library located in the back.

Predictably, Mira called out to them as soon as they got within her sights. "You two sure are looking awfully lovey-dovey today…"

Lucy winced and thought fast, kicking herself for not having a response already prepared. Thankfully something plausible came to her in the nick of time and she quickly said, "Yeah, Natsu took a hinky potion and isn't feeling too well. I'm taking him to Levy and hopefully we can figure out what's going on with him. Speaking of, do you know if Levy's in the library? We were going to try there first."

To back up the story, Lucy subtly shifted Natsu's arm over her shoulder to look like she was helping to support him…as if he was unsteady or something… and she waved the potion bottle around for extra evidence. Plenty of suspicion remained in Mira's sharp gaze, but it thankfully did soften a few notches and looked more concerned now.

"Actually you're in luck, she just headed back there. Good luck, I hope you find out what the problem is."

"Yeah, me too. Thanks Mira!" she called back as they resumed their previous heading.

Thankfully they were able to sneak past the rest of the guildhall and then scooted down the hall to the guild library.

As soon as they were out of the main hall, she sighed a breath of relief and Happy commented, "Do you think she bought it?"

"I dunno Happy, she still looked a little suspicious. But hopefully it'll keep her off our backs for now. And it's not like I lied, everything I told her was true."

A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. "I wonder what would happen if I told her what was really going on…"

Lucy shot him a glare. "Don't you dare! We'd never live it down!"

He laughed, and she wasn't entirely convinced that he wouldn't follow through with his threat, so she quickly came up with something that she knew would keep him from blabbing to everyone about their predicament. Unwrapping Natsu from around her temporarily so that she could squat down to the cat's eyelevel, she gave him the most serious face she could muster.

"Happy, I'll make you a deal. If you help us out with this unfortunate situation – which also means not telling anyone – I promise that as soon as this is all over, you and I will go to the fish market and I will buy you whatever you want. Deal?"

His eyes lit up super bright, and she knew she had him. "Deal!"

"Good. But the deal's off if you tell anyone, okay?"

He nodded seriously, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she stood up. Natsu instantly latched back on and buried his face in her hair for a second, then pulled himself together. Now that they were all on the same page, they proceeded down the hall and eventually emerged into the enormous new library they'd constructed with their newest guildhall.

Sure enough, Levy was parked at her favorite table with a whole stack of books next to her.

When they entered, she glanced up and then smiled when she saw who it was. "Hey Lu!"

She hopped up and bounced over for a hug, which turned awkward when Lucy had to disentangle herself from Natsu to hug her blue-haired friend back. As soon as they separated, Levy took one look at their faces, and of course noted the way Natsu instantly latched back onto Lucy, and her eyebrows rose.

"Um…is something going on?"

"Yeah…so…you see…"

Over the next couple of minutes, Lucy and Natsu thoroughly explained everything they knew about the situation so far.

At first, Levy's eyes widened comically, and she even flushed just a bit at the awkward conversation – alongside Lucy – but soon her face settled into her typical contemplative expression that meant she was already trying to figure out what was going on.

"Hmmm…. That is strange. I agree with you though, the potion is probably connected somehow, so we'll start with that."

She scurried over to her bag and pulled out a pen and paper, then started scribbling down a bunch of stuff. After a moment of furious writing, she ripped off that page and started another list, then ripped that off too. She handed one to Lucy and kept the other for herself.

"Here, I'm going to run over to the medical room and grab some supplies to help analyze the potion. While I do that, you can get started on this list of books."

Lucy nodded and Levy ran off. While she was gone, Lucy did as she'd asked and started hunting down the books on her list, stacking them up separate from the books Levy had been reading prior to their arrival. She enlisted Natsu and Happy to help, though she repeatedly had to explain how they could use the catalogue number to find them.

By the time Levy reappeared with a huge box somehow balanced in her arms, they'd almost found every book on the list.

They finished while Levy started setting up a temporary lab, complete with beakers, burners, and microscopes. What she lacked, she wrote into existence with her solid script magic, and soon an impressive array of diagnostic equipment sat on the table. She dug into the books they'd found – a lot of which were on potion ingredients – and then poured some of the new potion into a beaker and started analyzing it.

As she started to list out ingredients, Lucy helped her to look them up, and soon they'd at least figured out what was in the potion. After that, it was a matter of trying to figure out if any of the ingredients had interacted strangely with each other, or even with something Natsu had eaten prior to taking the potion. Several hours later, they had determined that the potion seemed completely innocent and there was no way it could affect a person the way it was affecting Natsu.

As they hit yet another dead end, Lucy made a fairly loud sound of exasperation and planted her face into the table, then plopped the book she'd been reading over her head like a tent hat. Natsu, who was naturally sitting RIGHT next to her, snorted.

"I don't think that's how books work Luce."

She growled at him and then peeked out from under her book to look at Levy, who was similarly experiencing a state of frustration and exhaustion across the table from her. She had her chin sitting on her stacked hands and was nose-to-nose with a beaker full of the potion. The glare she'd leveled at the thing looked offended, as if she was personally insulted that it hadn't given up its secrets.

"What are we missing Lev?"

"I don't know…" the bluenette growled, sounding as frustrated as her.

Lucy dropped the book back to the table and sat up with a sigh. By this point, she was close to suggesting that maybe they just give up and hope that Natsu simply got over it.

Meanwhile, he leaned in close to her and nuzzled her neck – which had already happened a good number of times and she was resolutely ignoring it. But then he did something new. The sensation of a long, hot, wet swipe from her collarbone to her jaw made her eyes open wide, and she and Levy stared at each other with similar expressions of shock. They had a moment of silent communication, where Lucy asked her friend if that had really just happened, and Levy confirmed it.

Meanwhile, Happy had burst into laughter, which further verified that she hadn't imagined Natsu licking her.

After a long, awkward silence, Lucy pulled herself together and firmly stated, "We need to figure this out. Now."

Levy just silently nodded. Then after a long moment, she also gathered her wits and started working through the problem. "What haven't we considered?

"Well, if the potion couldn't affect a normal mage the way it's affecting Natsu, then it has to be something special about Natsu." Lucy reasoned, and suddenly a lightbulb came on in her head. "Of course! Maybe it's because he's a dragon slayer! His fire magic is different from anyone else who would take that potion."

Her blue-haired partner's eyes lit up. "That's brilliant Lu! Why didn't we think of that before?!"

With the epiphany, they both hurried to search the library for all books on dragon slayers. Though books on that subject were fairly rare, they possessed a pretty good number of them – which only made sense, considering how many slayers were in their guild.

With the new books in hand, they restarted their research and soon Levy exclaimed, "Ah! Look at this!"

Everyone huddled around the book she laid out flat on the table.

"It says here that dragon slayers have to be very careful when it comes to any spells and potions that alter their magic in any way."

"Really? Why?!" Lucy asked, leaning in and doing her best to read the tiny text upside down.

"Apparently, dragon slayer magic actually alters the mage's body in a lot of different ways…until they aren't even really human anymore."

That piece of information took Lucy aback. She'd known Natsu was different – his senses were ridiculously strong, his body was much tougher than it should be, and he ate fire for crying out loud. But to think that he wasn't even really human anymore? That was a bit of a shocker.

Natsu on the other hand didn't seem surprised at all. "Well yeah, duh. But what does that have to do with anything?"

Lucy shot him a shocked look, surprised that he was so accepting of the fact that he was no longer human. Before she could comment though, Levy was answering his question.

"Because your magic is integrated into your body at a completely different level from normal mages, so anything that affects your magic will affect your body in ways they wouldn't affect a normal mage. But there's more to it than that. Not only is your magic more bound to your body, but it's also different from normal magic. The reason it changes your body in the first place is because it's dragon magic, so it alters you to be more like a dragon. So, for those two reasons, according to this, certain kinds of potions and spells might affect you differently and cause all kinds of wonky side effects."

"Like what?"

"Um…let's see…" She scanned the page until she apparently found the part she needed to answer that question. "Ah, here. It says that enhancement spells and potions can act like a form of overstimulation. It looks as though it usually ends up targeting one part of the body… such as the digestive system. Or it could affect the brain and cause any number of bad things, like anxiety, depression, energy fluctuations, or even hallucinations. Or it could affect the heart, which would be really dangerous. Or it could affect the senses and cause hypersensitivity. Or…oh…" She bit her lip and flushed as she cut off awkwardly.

Lucy felt her stomach knotting up, knowing that whatever she was about to say would probably not be good.

Natsu lost his patience first of course. "Or what?! Come on, spit it out Levy!"

"Well…if it's the right season…it could even cause a dragon slayer to go into heat."

Lucy felt herself sweat-drop. "I'm sorry, what did you say? A slayer going into heat? Like a dog or cat? That can't be real. Who wrote that book?"

"It's real."

She was reaching for the book to inspect it when Natsu spoke, and she froze mid-reach. "What? You're kidding right?"

"Nope. My dad told me about it when I was young, but it wasn't super interesting so I kinda forgot about it till now."

"Seriously? You just forgot about something like that?!" Lucy groaned. She couldn't believe him…. Actually, no, she could totally believe him. That was just like Natsu.

"Well, um, did anything your dad say match up with what's been going on?" Levy eventually asked into the awkward silence.

"Yeah, actually it all adds up."

"Um…quick question though, if you're in heat, shouldn't you be chasing all the girls around instead of just tailing me?" Lucy couldn't help but ask. It wasn't like she wanted him to go around canoodling with every girl he saw, but his behavior just didn't match up with what she would have thought being in heat meant.

He almost looked offended. "What?! No! I only have _**one**_ mate!"

"Oh. _**OH**_!" Suddenly she flushed, realizing what that meant. If he was only pursuing her then…apparently he had decided she was his mate for this being in heat business. But she had no idea what exactly that meant.

There was yet another long awkward silence. Then, Happy chirped in with, "You figured it out right? So, that's a good thing… why is everyone being weird about it?"

"Oh, uh, you're right Happy! It _is_ a good thing we finally figured it out." Lucy rallied together and attempted to bring everything back to normal. "Thanks for all your help Lev, you've really been a life saver."

"Sure Lu, anytime! You know where to find me." she replied with a grin and started putting up the books, obviously doing the same thing as Lucy and trying to normalize things.

"Oh here, we'll help out with that. Come on guys."

In the end though, Lucy fired both Happy and Natsu from clean up duty, because they seemed incapable of putting a book back in the right spot. Once everything was tidied back up so that Levy could continue whatever she'd been doing before they barged in, they excused themselves after thanking her once again.

On the way out, naturally Mira asked, "So did you figure out what's wrong with Natsu?"

"Yeah, now we just have to figure out how to fix it!" Lucy called back.

"So what was wrong?"

"Trust me…don't ask."

Apparently, whatever Lucy was projecting was enough to prompt even Mira to shut up for once, and all she had to say about it was, "Okay, well…good luck! I hope you figure out a solution."

"Thanks."

Once outside the guildhall, Lucy found herself at a bit of a loss. She had been in such a hurry to escape before anyone found out about Natsu's embarrassing secret, that she hadn't really planned ahead what to do next. She figured it out fast though when Natsu caught up with her and draped his arm around her shoulders again. For once, she'd left him in the dust having to scramble after her.

Now that she knew what was going on, she was even more uncomfortable with the contact than before, and it felt like a giant neon sign was over their heads flashing the words, '**IN HEAT**.'

Lucy realized that it would probably be a good idea to hole up in her apartment until this thing was over, because she sure as heck didn't want to be out in public more than absolutely necessary. In fact, she would absolutely love to head there now, but unfortunately first they had to deal with the fact that they had no food at the apartment. If they were going to hibernate, they needed supplies to last for the duration of Natsu's situation.

Which meant she needed a little more info from Natsu. They'd hightailed it out of there so fast she hadn't really gotten a good enough idea of what they were dealing with, but she'd been so embarrassed about it all that she hadn't really wanted to ask the pertinent questions.

So, as she directed them towards the marketplace, she girded her loins and dove in headfirst. "Hey uh…I don't suppose there's any way we can…I dunno, make you go out of heat once it's been…uh…started?"

His head was currently ducked into her neck again – he seemed to be having more and more trouble keeping his distance as the day progressed. She felt him shake his head and his, "nope," was muffled by her hair.

"That's what I was afraid of. Okay, well…I guess our best bet is holing up at my place for however long this is going to take. Which is…how long exactly?"

He shrugged. "A week maybe?"

That was even worse than she'd thought and she grimaced. "Great."

She caught his frown in her peripheral and glanced over to see that his expression was almost a little hurt. "Is it really that bad to be like this?"

His arm squeezed around her shoulders to illustrate his point and she flushed a little and quickly looked away. How the heck was she supposed to answer that?! There was no way she could tell him that it was actually the opposite and she liked it too much – aside from the PDA which was simply embarrassing. She'd rather come out of this experience with their friendship intact, and she was pretty sure if he found out about her romantic feelings for him things would get really awkward. Well…for her at least. He might actually take it pretty well and just be like, '_wow really? Gee, sorry Luce, I just don't feel that way about ya_." and wouldn't make a big deal about it. But it would probably be hard for her to recover from being rejected.

With that in mind, she had to settle with a half-truth as an answer. "Um… no, it's not bad exactly. But it is a little… uncomfortable I guess? I mean, you seem to want contact that's usually reserved for couples, and we aren't, so it's just a little awkward. You're my best friend and I don't want things to get weird between us you know?"

When she risked a quick peek at him, thankfully his expression had smoothed out and he seemed to have perked up. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"Okay, good. Now…let's go ahead and get some food and go home before you completely embarrass us."

"Hey! I thought you just said it's not that bad!" he protested.

"Well yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm okay with this much PDA! I'm a little more reserved than you, you know?"

Happy scoffed. "A little?"

At that, they all laughed, and some of the awkwardness in the air relaxed.

...

One long hour later, they finally stumbled through the door to her apartment, all of them heavily laden with groceries.

Luckily, the experience hadn't been quite as embarrassing as she'd feared. Thanks to quickly loading up Natsu's arms with produce, he hadn't been able to commit all the acts of PDA that he'd obviously wanted to, which had lent an air of urgency to his shopping. She had already been speeding through it thanks to her worries about potential humiliation, so they had finished in record time.

Still, aside from that, it had been an exhausting experience. With all the rushing, plus having to buy so much at once, they were all carrying much more than normal and Lucy was thoroughly out of breath. Her arms shook a little as she dumped the bags onto her kitchen counter – careful that they would stay put and not tip over to deposit groceries on the floor – and then she just leaned there for a long moment catching her breath. A large thump and clatter told her that Natsu had probably dumped his on the table, and a duller one said that Happy had probably just put his on the floor.

She couldn't even bring herself to care, she was much too tired at the moment. Sweat dripped into her eyes and she tiredly swiped at her forehead, not really wanting to salt the groceries right in front of her. As her hand landed back on the counter, a larger tanner hand landed next to it. A matching hand planted on the other side, securely pinning her to the counter, and she froze, her belly doing acrobatic hyper somersaults.

Thankfully all Natsu did was rest his chin on her shoulder and lean into her, which pressed the counter somewhat uncomfortably into her upper stomach. More disturbing though was the feel of his front against her back. It wasn't like she wasn't used to plenty of contact with Natsu – over the course of their friendship they had been in all sorts of strange situations and had probably touched just about every part of each other's bodies at one time or another. But this was different. Just like this morning, she found herself hyper aware of every place that his body touched hers…his chest against her shoulder blades, his stomach against her back, his hips against her butt…and her insides jumped around with way too much excitement.

For a long moment, they stayed like that, and then eventually Lucy shifted and cleared her throat. "You know we're going to have to talk about this right? I'd rather know what to expect in the next few days…"

"Yeah…I know." he sighed, but then perked up a moment later. "But first I'm starving."

She snorted. Of course Natsu's appetite wouldn't be affected by this whole situation.

"Alright, but you're gonna have to back up if you want me to cook."

He heaved a sigh, and grumbled, "Damn." Then he slowly and obviously reluctantly pulled back.

If this had been any other situation, she would have found that whole scene very sexy, but she was doing her utmost to remind herself that he was just under the affects of being in heat – whatever that meant – and he wasn't actually in love with her. His body was just a little out of control, but it didn't mean anything.

Something told her that she was going to be repeating that phrase a lot for the next few days.

To distract herself from her predicament, she started unpacking the groceries, leaving out whatever she decided to make for dinner. Fish and various vegetables stayed on the counter, and as soon as everything else was out of the way she got started on making some baked fish fillets and threw on a pot of green beans and a pot of rice. Once the fish was sprinkled with spices, doused in butter, and had a squeeze of lemon on top, she popped it in the oven to bake. Then there wasn't anything for her to do until everything had finished, so she started setting the table.

Somehow, all of this was completed around Natsu, who was obviously doing his best to stay out of her way, but also couldn't quite seem to keep himself away from her. All the prep work was done pretty much in one place at the counter while he cuddled up to her back, and then as soon as she started putting stuff in and on the stove he had to move back and give her some room.

He _really_ had to give her room when it was time to take stuff off the heat, and she made sure he knew that by barking at him to get back whenever she was dealing with something hot. Today just didn't seem like a good day to get burned in the kitchen.

Soon enough everything was on the table and they were digging in…. and just like yesterday Natsu insisted on sitting right next to her as he ate. It turned out all right, but Lucy had to be extra careful not to bump into him or let him bump into her as they forked food into their mouths. That seemed like a really good way to scrape or stab the roof of her mouth with an eating utensil, and she didn't really want to experience that firsthand.

Thankfully they made it through the meal without any injuries to either party, but her clothes had taken a hit that she knew she'd have to spot clean later. Natsu was not the neatest eater, and her clothes had paid the price for his messy habits.

After a little fussing at him for her soiled clothes, they washed dishes and then headed into the living room for the much-dreaded discussion. Lucy wished they could postpone it, but there really wasn't any point to that. It was going to be undoubtedly awkward and she was a little frightened of what she might learn, but it needed to happen – as she herself had pointed out earlier.

They settled onto the couch, facing each other with a little space between them – which Natsu was only just barely able to maintain. Meanwhile, Happy relocated himself to the large comfy chair on the other side of the coffee table.

"Alright… so… what exactly are we dealing with?"

He gave her a confused look. "You already know I'm in heat."

"Yes but what does that mean exactly? What did your dad tell you?"

"Um, he said that if I did go into heat, it'd come in stages. That's how he put it anyways." His face screwed up as he dredged up the memory. "First, he said I'd hunt for a mate. Then, once I found her, I'd want to stick close to her. Then there's the touching thing, where I feel like I've always gotta be touching you. That's apparently gonna continue getting worse, so it's gonna be harder and harder for me to not be touching you. Also…"

Natsu's eyes shifted to Happy. "Sorry little buddy, but you're probably gonna have to leave. The next stage is gonna involve me getting really possessive and protective. Igneel warned me to stay away from all other males, even males of other species during that stage. I guess I may get kinda aggressive or something… and I don't wanna accidentally hurt you."

Happy frowned and looked very unhappy. "But Natsuuuu…."

"Yeah, I know. I don't like it either." the dragon slayer said with a pained grimace.

The blue cat flew over and burrowed into Natsu's chest. They shared a long hug and when they separated, Happy was a tad tearful.

"Do I have to go now?"

"Yeah, you probably should. Now that we're talking about it, I'm noticing that I feel a little weird about you being here. I dunno if it's because of the heat or what, but I don't want anything bad to happen."

To distract the sniffling cat, Lucy cut in and suggested, "Hey, why don't you go and sleep over with Wendy and Carla? Let them know that Natsu's just…I guess feeling sick or something, and he needs some space."

At the mention of his kitty girlfriend, Happy immediately perked up. "Yeah, I could do that!"

A few more goodbyes later and he was flying out the window. Natsu still looked more than a little perturbed about it all though, and Lucy found herself having to comfort him as well.

"It'll be okay, you know it's only for a couple of days."

"Yeah, I know. It's not that…."

"Then what's bugging you?"

He rasped a frustrated sound. "I just don't like that he's gotta go because of me. And I…I dunno."

It was obvious that he was uneasy about something, but he also looked confused, like he wasn't entirely sure what was bothering him. His eyes were dark and conflicted and his brows drew tight, giving him a deep frown. The way his eyes scrunched up at the corners though showed that it was a pained scowl rather than angry, though the harsh set to his mouth suggested that he was also frustrated.

She'd seen this sort of thing before on occasion, so it was easy enough to identify the signs. Natsu was a very emotionally driven individual and he worked off of instinct at least ninety percent of the time. Just like with everything else, his emotions tended to be straightforward – blunt, uncomplicated, and to the point. He wore everything on his sleeve, and it was always just…there.

So when things like this happened, which involved a whole series of emotions he wasn't used to, she'd noticed that he sometimes had trouble identifying them all and didn't really seem to know how to deal with them. It was a fairly rare occurrence, but she had seen it often enough to know the symptoms.

In this case, she certainly didn't blame him for it. This whole thing had her totally confused and mixed-up too.

"Maybe you're worried about not knowing what's going to happen? And the possibility that you might be aggressive towards Happy means that you might not be completely yourself."

He cocked his head. "Yeah…that could be it."

There was a brief silence, and then Lucy decided she'd better finish up their previous conversation before she lost her nerve.

"Um…speaking of you not being yourself…. I don't really need all the details, but is there anything in particular I should be worried about?"

"Nah. You may have to put up with me being super clingy, but I should be able to handle the other stuff. I doubt it'll be a problem."

She almost wanted to ask what this 'other stuff' was, because it seemed like Natsu was being too dismissive of it, but if it was what she thought it might be…she wasn't really sure she wanted to have that discussion with him. So, eventually she decided to just let it go at that and hope that nothing bad happened.

"Okay well…I guess we'll just see how it goes and take it one day at a time."

"Sounds like a plan!"

With that taken care of, Lucy breathed a sigh of relief and let herself relax a little. As she leaned back into the couch and stared off into space, contemplating their current predicament, her mind started drifting over what the heck she was going to do for however many days this lasted.

They'd be cooped up in her apartment, so her options were limited. She supposed she could do some spring cleaning, but she'd already done most of that. Aside from chores, there was really only one viable option… writing. That certainly wouldn't be a bad thing, she had fallen behind schedule on her latest book, so maybe this was a previously unforeseen silver lining.

A glance at the clock told her that it was probably already too late to get overly engrossed in that today though. Frankly she was shocked by how late it was, she hadn't realized that night had fallen quite some time ago. No wonder she was starting to get tired.

With a stretch and a yawn, she pulled her legs out of Natsu's lap – which had allowed them to sit facing each other for so long without him pouncing on her.

"Well, I think I'm going to take a bath."

Natsu hopped up off the couch and followed her to the dresser – where she grabbed her pajamas – and then he tailed her to the bathroom. When she turned to shut the door, his hand slammed out and stopped it short with at least a foot left to go. The movement had been so fast that she almost didn't know what happened until she fully turned and eyeballed the situation.

Fighting down irritation, she slowly asked, "Natsu? What are you doing?"

He grimaced and slowly reeled his arm back in. "Sorry…I kinda moved without thinking."

She nodded, accepting that explanation, but when she went to shut the door again he partially leaned into the frame, stopping her once again. When she shot him an exasperated glare, he chewed his lip and then asked, "Do you have to take a bath? You don't smell bad or anything."

"Yes Natsu, I have to take a bath. I worked up a sweat grocery shopping and I feel sticky. Not to mention you spilled food on me at dinner."

"But you always spend forever in the bath…can't you just take a quick shower instead?"

She heaved a sigh, glancing longingly at the bathtub. A long hot soak sounded heavenly right now after all the distress of the day, but one look at back at Natsu's anxious expression told her it wouldn't be fair to him. Based off the few things he'd told her about how he felt right now, her taking a bath would cause him way too much discomfort for her to do it in good conscience.

"Alright…fine. I'll just take a quick shower okay?"

He bit his lip and nodded. "Okay. Thanks Luce."

Very reluctantly, he stepped back, and before he could change his mind again she slammed the door shut and clicked the locks into place. As she stripped and turned on the water, she heard Natsu grousing outside the door.

"I still don't think this is necessary though… what is it with girls anyways? You sweat just a little and need to take a bath. I sweat all the time and I don't bathe every day. It's dumb."

"You'd have to bathe a heck of a lot more if I hadn't given you that spray cleaning lacrima. You're BO was getting out of control." she commented loudly as she stepped into the shower and started lathering up.

"It wasn't that bad."

"Oh yes it was…I very distinctly remember. You smelled like a skunk! I have no idea how you could stand it, especially since your nose is so sensitive."

"My scent never bothers me. The stronger the better."

She rolled her eyes. In some ways, Natsu was such a child, and in other ways he was very much a man… or an animal. She hadn't fully decided which one. But she supposed it made sense in a way, if she considered the second option. As she'd found out today, he wasn't completely human anymore, and animals did like to mark their stuff with their smell. So a strong smell probably wasn't bad if it was yours.

That didn't make it any less gross though, and she certainly didn't regret buying him that lacrima. Especially with how close they'd been getting lately. Speaking of, she made a mental note to spray him down with the one she kept here for him once she was done with her own shower. He'd also worked up a sweat today and she didn't want to deal with his BO while he was feeling super cuddly.

"Ya done yet?" his voice interrupted her thoughts on the matter and she flinched a little, not used to having him talk to her while she was bathing.

"Almost! Geez. Dragons sure must be nosy."

He laughed a little, but it sounded strained. "Yeah, probably. But hurry up would ya?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it."

She sped up her routine and quickly finished up. Then, while she was there, she went ahead and did her nighttime routine so she could just hop in bed without another trip to the bathroom.

Once she was totally done, she gingerly opened the door, not sure what she would find on the other side. For half a second, she saw that Natsu was sitting on the ground and had been leaning against the bathroom door. He lost his balance for a brief moment, but then immediately spun and lunged at her, the movement so fast she was barely able to see it. He hadn't even fully gotten up, he'd just stood on his knees, so when his hands clamped onto her sides and yanked her towards him, his face ended up buried in her stomach.

His grip on her was the only thing that kept her from toppling over when he knocked her off balance and she was both grateful and embarrassed by it. The position was definitely awkward and way too intimate for her peace of mind. Scenes she'd read from various romance novels attempted to invade her thinking space, and she did her very best to block them with literally anything she could come up with on the fly. Grocery lists, mathematical equations that hurt her brain, even the nutritional value of her meal. Nothing was sacred as she attempted to clear her mind, though it barely worked.

"Um, Natsu? Can you please get up? This is really awkward."

A few more deep breaths later, he finally managed to pull himself together and stood, though he continued holding her for a long moment after. "Sorry Luce, you were just in there a really long time."

She glanced at the clock. "Uh, I really wasn't, but whatever. Anyways, look, it's getting late, and I'm kinda tired."

When he finally – and very reluctantly – let her go, she headed to the bed where she'd placed a bag from the market. Pulling out a large pair of pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, she threw them at Natsu. "Here, get dressed for bed. If you're going to be crawling in with me, you're going to wear clean clothes at least. Oh, and spray yourself down."

The last comment was accompanied by her tossing the cleaning lacrima at him that she'd brought out of the bathroom.

She might not like it, but she knew that there probably wasn't any way to stop him from sleeping with her for the next few nights. But at the very least she could make sure he didn't track dirt and nastiness into the bed with him.

"What? I'm not dirty. Why do I gotta change and spray down with this?" he protested, scowling as he caught the flying sleepwear and lacrima.

Her eyebrow ticked. "You do just realize I gave you permission to sleep with me right? Maybe you should be a little more grateful and just do what I asked?"

In an almost comical manner, his eyes widened. "Oh. _Oh!_ Thanks Luce!"

He scrambled into the bathroom and she turned to start getting the apartment ready for nighttime. She hadn't even made it all the way into the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot before Natsu was stumbling back out of the bathroom, still in the process of putting on his new shirt and trying to spray himself down at the same time. She turned at the sound and eyeballed his new outfit. Luckily it looked like she'd gotten the sizes right and thanked the shopping gods that she had a good eye for that kind of thing.

Actually, she'd never seen him in pajama pants or sweat pants, and she had to admit that they looked good on him. Too good actually. In fact, maybe she should have gotten a size up in a thicker material… then they wouldn't have clung to him in such a distracting way.

For once, she was glad that he immediately came over and huddled close to her as soon as he got everything properly situated and clean, because it interrupted her ogling before she could embarrass herself.

"So, are they comfortable? It looks like they fit okay." she mumbled, trying to cover up the fact that she'd been staring at him.

"Yeah, actually they're super comfortable. Thanks Luce."

"You're welcome."

She patted his shoulder and then turned and kept heading towards the coffee pot, dragging Natsu along with her. After working in such close quarters with him for the past couple of days, she was finally learning how to move around with him invading her space. Basically she just had to keep moving, and not worry about running him over. If she lost her balance she just grabbed onto him to get her balance back, assuming he didn't grab her first and put her back on her feet. The only time she really needed to be careful was when she was dealing with food or something that could spill, so when it came time to fill the coffee pot with water and coffee grounds, she pushed him back just a hair and told him to give her a little space for a moment.

Thankfully, he was able to do that, though when he started playing with her hair she nearly spilled the water because of the ticklish pleasant sensation that took her by surprise. Somehow she steadied her jerky hand and by some miracle the sloshy water didn't overflow its boundaries. After finishing with the coffee, she didn't even flinch when she felt the sensation of a superheated body pressing against her once again. At least she was starting to get used to it, though that might not necessarily be a good thing.

Her mantra ran through her head again, telling her not to get too comfortable with this… that it wouldn't last and that it didn't mean anything to him. For what felt like the hundredth time, she reminded herself not to get too emotionally invested in the goings on. A wave of sadness washed over her, and she determined that it was probably an emotion she would have to get used to over the next few days. That was better than tricking herself into imagining things that probably would never happen between them.

With the sadness came exhaustion, and she quickly finished turning off the lights and then headed for bed. Once there, she stalled, her lips pursed and her hands on her hips. She was not enthused about the sleeping arrangements, but there really wasn't any getting around it. However, perhaps there was a way to reduce the impact.

With that thought in mind, she quickly crawled into bed and then grabbed two of her many fluffy pillows and shoved them behind her to create a barrier. "You're on that side of the pillows and I'm on this side. Deal?"

He pouted, but crawled into bed on the other side of the pillows. "Why the pillows though?"

"It's to keep some space between us. It'll make things less awkward."

His pout deepened and even in the darkness of the room she could see the confusion on his face. He just didn't seem to get it, but thankfully didn't argue anymore. After she was met with silence for a while, she relaxed and sighed in relief that she wouldn't have to fight him on it. She was just too tired for that kind of nonsense right now.

She rolled on her side to face away from Natsu, hoping that she could just pretend he wasn't there, but that turned out to be utterly impossible. Seconds after she'd gotten comfortable, the bed shifted and then she felt him snuggle up to her back from behind the pillows. All they did was provide a soft barrier between them, so she couldn't feel his body when he curled around her, but his arm still draped over her waist, and she could feel his knee bump into the back of her thigh as he hiked it over the pillow wall.

It was better than nothing she supposed, but it was also impossible to pretend that he wasn't in bed with her.

"Night Luce."

With a sigh, she whispered, "Good night," and hoped that she wasn't lying. She honestly had no idea how she was going to ever get to sleep.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_She pulled her hand free and made it a couple more steps before he lunged at her. One arm wrapped around her waist and the other clamped on her hip so tightly she worried she may have a bruise. His momentum also forced them to stumble forwards a couple of steps into the nearest piece of furniture, which was her kitchen table. The legs made a horrific screeching sound against the floor and several of the chairs were knocked over with a loud clatter._

_It all startled her so much that she unintentionally yelled in surprise and then cussed loudly as her toe stubbed painfully into the leg of the table._

_Then an even worse situation presented itself when Gray's voice bellowed through the door. "Oi! What was that?! You sure you're okay in there?!"_


	4. CH 4: Territoriality Issues

**Author's Note: **

(alternatively known as 'No Means No! and Gray Makes a Mess…')

Alrighty! It's Sunday! And happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it!

As always, humongous, wonderful, fluffy thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to: SistershoOk, 19vanelkc, NaLuAlways26, Anna5949, valerioux, Obliterate16, BearPlusCat, Jazminee18, Karmitara, GothBanshee, aliciacevbra, stranger1999, quidditchChick6, OhtaSuzuke, MysteryReader7311, dani-yell10, HotvampGurl23, illleashya, iamanimefreak13, blue02eclipse, thetrywriter, and Lucinda. You guys are all amazing!

I promise to properly respond to all of your reviews for chapter 3 tomorrow. Normally, I read and respond to all my reviews when I post the new chapter, but I'm literally falling asleep right now, lol. Still, I wanted to at least post the new chapter while it was still Sunday (I mean, technically it's past 12 am...but close enough right?) XD

Anywho, on with the chapter! And stay tuned till the end for a sneak peek of next chappie! ;D

* * *

As expected, it had taken Lucy a very long time to get to sleep. So, when she finally did, her slumber was very deep out of pure exhaustion, and thankfully it was dreamless. That helped her realize what was going on a little more quickly the next morning, since she didn't have to shake off the remains of another Natsu dream. Therefore, unlike yesterday morning, she immediately knew that the person currently coiled around her was the dragon slayer.

Sometime during the night, those pillows she put between them had been relocated, so now there was nothing separating them but thin nightclothes. He was just as tangled up with her as yesterday, if not even more so, and she had a hard time identifying just what was where. She was sort of halfway on her stomach cuddling a pillow with her right arm, while her head was cranked all the way to that side and was pillowed on her left arm. Based off his breath on the back of her neck and the weight on her left shoulder, she could tell that his head was resting there, and she was pretty sure the reason for her sore scalp was that her hair was tangled around both their left arms. Meanwhile, his right arm draped loosely over her waist like a heavy band of heat, and his forearm lay on top of the same pillow she was hugging – which meant she was also cuddling his arm. Downstairs, her left leg was stretched out straight, while her right bent at the knee and hiked up a bit…. and naturally his mimicked hers, which meant his right leg was hitched over her left.

Once she'd taken in the situation, she scrambled mentally to try and remember how to route her brain away from thoughts of Natsu and how he felt against her. However, her sleepy state made it significantly more difficult to maintain any kind of emotional or mental distance from the current state of affairs, and that was _really_ not good.

It quickly became clear that she needed to go with the next viable option and remove herself from the problem entirely. Of course, her body and subconscious had come to that conclusion much faster than her higher thinking, and she was already responding in the habitual manner.

Lucy squirmed violently, trying to throw him off her like yesterday and the day before that. However, it wasn't working this time around and he stayed heavy on top of her, so she commenced thrashing around in an attempt to worm her way out from under him as quickly as possible. Her efforts utterly failed though, because he tightened his grip on her with a low growl of displeasure and pulled her right back to where she'd been. Then, he scooched up her body and burrowed his head much further into her neck and shoulder than it had been before.

The soft purr-like rumbles escaping him on his exhales said that he was either still mostly asleep or else very, very content.

Before she could rally her senses, lips had found her skin and were pressing against her – though she once again tried to convince herself that he was just nuzzling her with his mouth and not kissing her. It was pretty hard to do though when his lips parted and moved against her in ways that were definitely kiss-like, and she finally gave up entirely on the farce when she felt him creating gentle suction from time to time, sealing the deal that he was definitely kissing her.

And then he took it a step further. His mouth opened wider and she felt hot moist breath accompanied by teeth as he nipped at her with surprisingly sharp canines. The pressure of his teeth on her skin was so different from his lips, harder and sharper and more…dangerous somehow. His bites weren't particularly hard, they were more like nibbles than anything else, but it sent an unexpected thrill through her that she didn't know what to do with.

It was definitely way, _waaaay_ over her comfort line…. especially since it felt so _good_.

After freezing in stunned disbelief for a moment, her brain came back online with a resounding roar and she sprung into disturbed action. Lucy was no stranger to kicking Natsu out of bed – usually in a relatively violent manner – so her body easily reacted to her freaked out mindset with the appropriate series of movements.

Her left elbow jabbed back – aiming for his head – as she wrenched her torso upwards. Her right hand grabbed the wrist of his restraining arm and threw it off her, and then she immediately slammed her elbow back into his ribs to finish knocking his upper body off her. Her hitched knee dug into the mattress to try and get under her, while her left leg curled up and tried to do the same, and she bucked her hips up hard to knock him off her lower body.

She managed to almost get on all fours, but Natsu wasn't having it. With a loud snarl, his right arm curled back around her, which stopped her upward momentum very quickly. His right leg hooked around both of hers and yanked downwards, which pulled her knees out from under her. As her lower body went down, his grip on her torso tightened and he gave a rough tug, which toppled her over completely. She landed back on her belly and planted face-first into the mattress with a grunt. Shockingly, his left hand immediately landed on her head and his fingers tangled in her hair, holding her down with a dominating grip that could come across as either very sexual or very mean…neither of which seemed Natsu-like in the least.

"Natsu! Hey, let me up!" she protested – loudly – and continued to struggle, offended and more than a little disturbed.

In a different situation, his handsiness might have struck her as a turn on, but at the moment she was trying very hard to keep her mind out of that particular gutter by strictly focusing on her irritation. Thankfully, it was working pretty well so far, and she'd managed to get herself thoroughly worked up.

"Not yet…wanna sleep sum'more…." he grumbled into her shoulder, part of the words coming out mushed together.

"Y_ou_ can, but let me go!" she growled, still squirming to get free, but then suddenly froze as she came into abrupt contact with something she shouldn't have.

"I can't sleep without you…"

She didn't even hear his last comment because she was too busy mentally kicking herself and cussing quietly into the pillow. If she hadn't been wiggling around so much, she may have never felt the hardness now digging into her hip. It was definitely a sensation she didn't need burnt into her memory, though she secretly admitted to herself that it might come in handy at a much later date when she had some personal private time. But at the moment it was utterly embarrassing.

Then, she kicked herself yet again when Natsu apparently overheard her quietly muttering, "…shit-shit-shit-shit…" to herself.

"Wha's wrong Luce?"

"Nothing!" she squeaked, blushing hot and trying to hide her face in the pillows.

"You're a terrible liar." he grumbled sleepily, obviously not buying it.

"I…I'm…could you please just move?"

"Why? Do ya haf'ta go pee or somethin'?"

Seriously, someday Natsu needed to learn the word 'tact.'

"Natsu! No!" Well, now that he mentioned it, yes actually. But she wasn't going to admit to that. "Just move!"

"Don't wanna…"

At this point, Lucy had to make a decision. Did she just lie still and put up with the feeling of his hard-on pressing against her for an unknown amount of time, or did she do something about it? So far, she'd been able to overlook the sensation to a certain extent thanks to her being freaked out and irritated, but she knew good and well that she wouldn't be able to ignore it for much longer. Already she was fighting to keep her attention elsewhere instead of focusing on his junk and analyzing the feel of the experience.

What was worse? Forming a mental image so detailed she'd never be able to get it out of her head? Or dying from humiliation right now? The decision was made for her when Natsu shifted closer and unintentionally ground into her hip. _Was he even aware of it?!_

"Natsu! Stop!" she squawked again, the exclamation coming out before she could stop herself.

An irritated huff across the back of her neck said that Natsu was losing what little patience he had. "What's the problem?!"

"You don't know?! Come on…please don't make me say it…"

"What're you even talking about?"

Hiding her face in the blankets, she mumbled, "You're stabbing me in the hip."

"I'm stabbing you…?" He seemed utterly confused and she could feel his weight shift as he lifted up and apparently looked down at the situation. "Oh…"

A slightly awkward chuckle escaped him, but she thought he should sound a lot more embarrassed. Then he proceeded to continue surprising her. "What's the big deal? It's morning. I'm a guy. It happens."

If her face wasn't already pressed into the pillow, she would have face-palmed. "What's the problem?! Seriously?! That's…you…you're…I'm…could you just…Natsu!"

As her protest devolved into a senseless jumble of words, he groaned and finally leaned his body away from her. But before she could escape, he was back and had shoved a pillow between their lower bodies.

"There, does that fix it?" he grumbled as he plopped back down on top of her.

She was still too shocked to move or really speak, and before she'd gathered her wits, a soft rhythmic rumble said that he had fallen back asleep without waiting for her response. For a long moment she stayed stock still, stunned by what had just happened.

How was she going to recover from this? She had just gotten a good feel of what he was packing, and she knew she'd have a hell of a time looking him in the eye without blushing…probably for a while. _Would their friendship survive?_ Seconds after that thought, she scoffed, knowing that their friendship could survive anything. He probably wouldn't even be fazed in the slightest… it was her squeamishness that would cause any kind of problem.

If she didn't want this to affect their friendship, she just had to try and pretend this whole thing hadn't happened to the best of her ability. Still…she wasn't quite ready to face Natsu yet. She had some compartmentalizing to do. So, for a while, they continued to lay there while she worked on sorting herself out properly.

After an indefinite amount of time though, her bladder demanded attention and could no longer be ignored.

This time she went a different route. Instead of trying to shove him off her, she rolled over on top of him by abruptly pushing really, really hard against the mattress. He grunted as they flipped positions and ended up with her full weight landing on top of him. She kept going, digging her hand and the heels of her feet into the mattress to keep her turning and flailing with her right hand until she'd managed to snag the edge of the bed.

She kept pushing and pulling until they finally toppled out of bed together in a tangle of blankets and pillows. Natsu yelped various expletives in her ear as they fell and then landed in a heap. Thankfully, his confusion and the impact had distracted him enough that she managed to free herself, and she tossed the blankets off with a dramatic flourish as she stood – dropping them back on top of him to make her point.

He was still struggling and grumbling as she strode to the bathroom and locked herself in with a sharp snap of the door. Only then did she finally let her imperious annoyed façade drop and leaned back against the door weakly, panting a little. Her palm pressed to her chest and felt how fast her heart was beating.

They were going to have to have a conversation about boundaries, otherwise this was never going to work.

"What the heck was that for Luce?!"

When his voice came through the door, so loud that it sounded like he was pressed up against the barrier, she nearly leaped out of her skin. She covered it though by making her voice extra snappish. "You know why! It's not polite to hold people down without their permission!"

"Oh…"

"Yeah! Oh!"

She fumed her way through the rest of her morning routine. Thankfully, by the time she was done, she'd managed to mostly get rid of her uneasiness and replace it with the normal mixture of exasperation, feigned platonic-ness, and mild amusement. Really, if she couldn't laugh at Natsu's antics by now, she would have gone mad a long time ago. At least this problem didn't require her to deal with an enraged property owner who's building had just been burned to the ground.

He was also predictable, so she was ready for him when she exited the bathroom. As expected, he was leaning back against the door and pounced as soon as she opened it. However, this time she met him with a hand to the face, stopping him in his tracks. She hadn't slapped him or anything, she just met his advance with a palm out at the correct height, and his face had landed right in her hand.

His eyes immediately slammed shut when her splayed fingers connected with his face, and his momentum dramatically slowed, but didn't stop completely. He ended up leaning backwards at a rather harsh angle as his head was kept at arm's length, while his lower body sidled a little closer. One burning hand landed on her shoulder while the other snagged the elbow of her raised arm, and he squinted the eye uncovered by her fingers to peer at her with confusion.

"What're you doin?"

"We need to talk." she said seriously, holding his gaze – such as it was. "You need to let me go if I ask you to, otherwise this arrangement might need to be changed."

His one eye sobered and he took a full step back, though it looked like it pained him. "Sorry Luce…I'll try my best, but…sometimes I may not be able to. Especially when I'm half asleep or…"

Almost as if on cue, his head whipped around and a deep snarl ripped from his throat. The sound and his instant change in posture startled Lucy so much that she flinched back from him violently.

"What the…Natsu?! What's gotten into you?!"

He didn't answer, just put himself between her and the door and assumed a very aggressive looking stance, as if he expected an intruder. He stayed frozen like that, and she was just inching up behind him to maybe try and get his attention when there was a knock on the door.

"Um…I'm just gonna get that…" she said and hesitantly edged her way around him.

He was so tense that he was practically shaking, and she only got a couple of steps before he was lunging for her. His hand snagged her wrist, and he ground out, "Don't!"

She almost didn't when she caught a glimpse of his wild eyes, but then the knocking turned to pounding.

The sound of Erza's voice snapped her head around to face the door. "Are you alright Lucy? I heard what sounded like an animal in there…should I break down the door?"

"No! Uh, I'll be right there, hold on!" she called quickly, already able to predict a bomb. Then she turned to Natsu and murmured, "I'll just answer the door and get her to go away. Okay?"

She pulled her hand free and made it a couple more steps before he lunged at her. One arm wrapped around her waist and the other clamped on her hip so tightly she worried she may have a bruise. His momentum also forced them to stumble forwards a couple of steps into the nearest piece of furniture, which was her kitchen table. The legs made a horrific screeching sound against the floor and several of the chairs were knocked over with a loud clatter.

It all startled her so much that she unintentionally yelled in surprise and then cussed loudly as her toe stubbed painfully into the leg of the table.

Then an even worse situation presented itself when Gray's voice bellowed through the door. "Oi! What was that?! You sure you're okay in there?!"

Natsu's temperature dramatically shot up and she winced, concerned for the furniture as well as her own health.

"Um! I'm fine! I really can't get to the door right now, could you guys just leave please?!"

That only seemed to increase their suspicion though.

"Is there someone in there with you? Are they threatening you?" Erza asked, and Lucy could already hear danger in the tone.

"Oi! We ain't goin' anywhere till we're sure you're safe!"

She cussed once again as she realized that the only way to get them to leave would be to answer the door, and she slowly started tugging Natsu in that direction. He snarled and pulled back.

"Damnit Natsu, if I don't answer the door they're liable to break it down!"

He growled some more, but somewhere in there he must have heard her, because he stopped trying to drag her away from the door. However, he did dig in his heels, and she really had to buckle down to tow him along with her to the door. It got harder and harder to move him as they drew closer, but somehow she made it before either of her friends decided to bust into her apartment.

She put one hand back to ward off Natsu as she fumbled with the lock and cracked the door just a hair so she could peek through.

"Hey guys, sorry, but seriously you've _**got to go**_. Natsu's going through some kind of dragon slayer illness and I'm the only one that can be around him right now, so…"

"What? That was Natsu making all that racket?" Gray asked, and he leaned in, trying to look through the crack.

Apparently that was too much for Natsu, because he lunged with a vicious roar, and Lucy suddenly found herself shoved up against the doorjamb as he leaned over her. Fire licked through his teeth and poured through the open gap in the door as he growled, which must have startled Gray.

The other man yelped, "shit!" and she could hear the scuffy sounds of someone backing up quickly.

Before the fire could catch, Lucy hurriedly jabbed her hand up and slammed it into the bottom of Natsu's jaw, cutting off the flame with a click of his teeth.

"Seriously guys! You're making it really difficult to deal with him! Just get out of here before he burns my door down!"

Apparently Erza was able to pick up the sincerity of her tone, because she said, "Very well. But if you need anything, don't hesitate to call us."

Based off the following sounds, she had to drag Gray away.

With a relieved groan, Lucy slammed the door shut and locked it again. Then she gasped as Natsu's grip on her changed and he spun her around roughly before slamming her back into the wall. It wasn't quite hard enough to hurt, but it was dangerously close and definitely alarmed her. Fear ran cold in her veins when she looked into his face and saw unnaturally golden eyes that no longer looked like they belonged to Natsu, though not just because of the color change. It was much more than that…there was a wildness in them, a strange burning that made them look like they were the eyes of a feral animal.

She started edging to the side to try and get away from him, but he growled and wrenched her back. At that, she froze, even more frightened than before.

_What the hell had she gotten herself into?_

His head landed in the crook of her neck, and suddenly his bruising grip loosened a little. She could feel and hear him breathing heavily against her collarbone, and then the tiniest sound crawled out of his throat. Her eyes widened when she realized what it was, and her arms instantly wrapped around him, one hand burrowing into his hair to pet him the way she always did when he was motion sick. That little pained whimper had told her that he was dealing with something not fun at all, and she lost all form of fear and simply focused on trying to soothe him.

After a moment, his legs gave out and they both ended up sliding down the doorjamb to the floor. He practically crawled into her lap, getting as close as he possibly could, and then he started rubbing against her. His hands slid up and down her arms, his face nuzzled her face, neck, and shoulders, and his chest pressed against hers. After a moment, he started working his way down… hands stroking her sides while his face burrowed into her chest. Before she could get overly embarrassed about him nosing at her boobs, he was already moving on to her stomach and had wrapped his arms around her hips.

They ended up almost halfway lying down with his face buried in her middle, his chest between her legs, and his arms clamped around her hips, while the rest of his body awkwardly crunched up under him, huddling as close as he possibly could. His face kept rubbing against her, almost like a cat, and after a while of holding her, his hands started scrubbing at her legs, just like they'd done to her arms.

"Natsu…what are you doing?" she eventually murmured, her fingers lightly tugging at his hair to suggest he look up at her.

He tilted his head up, leaving his mouth and nose partially buried in her shirt while he met her eyes with his own, and she was relieved to see they'd gone back to their normal dark color.

"I…I dunno. I can't help it…I feel like I've gotta cover you in my scent."

Well that explained all the rubbing. And now that she thought about it, she strangely did smell him really strongly right now, as if he was emitting his normal scent at almost cologne-like levels. She would have thought that would be kind of gross, like BO, but it actually wasn't. He did have a very musky smell, sort of a mixture of salt, smoke, and… well… _Natsu_…but it wasn't bad at all.

If anything, she found herself really _liking_ the smell. Which was weird.

After the interruption, he eventually shifted back up her body – much to her relief – and when his head ducked back down he was just nuzzling her neck again. His arms wrapped back around her and he pressed close, holding her in a tight embrace that was almost soothing, though her heart continued to pound hard in her chest. If they'd just stayed like that – locked in a warm hug – her heart and breathing might have slowed back down and she might have even allowed herself to enjoy the closeness.

Except then, his body shifted over hers. It was a small motion and she thought nothing of it at first, but when it repeated…and then repeated again, she started to take more notice. Soon, he was moving back and forth over her, rubbing his chest and stomach against hers as much as he could in their cramped position. She was sure it was just an extension of what he'd been doing before – rubbing up against her to cover her in his scent – but this felt a little different.

However, no matter how much her mind tried to go there, she absolutely refused to compare the motion of his body to something else that would be very easy to do right now. There was absolutely no thrusting going on whatsoever…. Nope. None.

After a few minutes of moving against her, he experienced some kind of full body shudder and all motion stopped…. which made it amazingly hard to keep her thoughts clean. In response, she forced her brain so far away from the gutter that SOAP became her new name.

A moment or two later, he reluctantly pulled back, and even _he_ looked a little embarrassed and awkward about what had just taken place. His cheeks were ever so slightly pink and his eyes skidded away from hers instead of having his usual dead-on stare.

"Sorry Luce. These urges…they're getting a lot worse than I thought they would. It's actually kinda freaking me out a little…"

"Yeah, I was scared there for a moment too. You seemed really…out of control."

He grimaced. "I think it was mainly just…him. If he hadn't come here, I don't think I would have lost it like that."

"Well, you did say that you might get territorial and aggressive towards other males… and you don't even get along with him very well on a good day. So it makes sense."

He nodded. Then, for a long while they were both silent, up until Lucy's stomach audibly rumbled. She jerked and looked down, having forgotten that they hadn't even had breakfast yet. The notion was reiterated much louder by Natsu's stomach, which roared in comparison to her grumble.

At that, she couldn't help but laugh, and soon a lot of the tension had eased between them.

"Alright, I think it's time for breakfast, how about you?"

He nodded eagerly and followed her as she stood and headed towards the fridge.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_Before, he'd practically been wrapped around her while she cooked, and every time she stopped he would cuddle up to her. Now, he was actually putting some space between their bodies… though he still stayed close enough for him to keep one hand on her at all times._

_In one way, it was a lot less pushy and he wasn't in her personal space nearly as much, which made her wonder if maybe he was coming out of heat. It would be a lot earlier than he had predicted, but perhaps it was possible._

_However, what had happened earlier made her think that wasn't the case. He'd reacted way too strongly for him to be coming out of heat…which suggested that something else was going on. Perhaps this new behavior was an indication that he was entering a new stage? Though she wasn't sure why a more advanced stage would result in him having less contact with her._


	5. CH 5: Weird Just Got Weirder

**Author's**** Note:**

Yikes! Sorry guys, I normally never forget a posting, but this weekend was kinda crazy (went out of town) and then I went straight back to work on Monday and Tuesday, so it completely slipped my mind! AH! I'm so sorry *kneels on ground and bows repeatedly.*

HUGE thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! Big hugs and kisses to TheOGFTfanatic, PandoraJ, Lucinda, Anna5949, BearPlusCat, stranger1999, SistershoOK, illleashya, aliciacevbra, GothBanshee, RainboMan, Jazminee18, NaLuAlways26, valerioux, Andria Justus Haynie, SaraphinaK, Leomae2.0, quidditchChick6, Dark Shining Light, Katnibal94, HotvampGurl23, Karmitara, ShadowZz, dani-yell10, loopymama, and Fanfics no one makes.

Alrighty! On with the show! And stay till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter. ;D

P.S. I'd also considered titling this chapter, 'Bathroom Problems.' Buckle up ladies and gentlemen, this one is gonna get awkward. XD

* * *

Unfortunately, as the day progressed, the uncomfortable pressure and tension slowly inched back into the air, making it thick and stuffy.

As she had suspected, Lucy spent most of the day writing in her book. There was really nothing else to do, and it helped to distract her from the uneasy atmosphere. However, she was still very aware of Natsu – even more-so now after that strange and frightening outburst this morning – and she made sure to keep tabs on his body language even as she wrote.

Predictably, he got extremely bored very quickly and began to fidget in a highly distracting manner. He'd started out by reading over her shoulder as she wrote… while draping himself over her like a shawl. When he lost interest in that, he started pestering her – chewing on her, messing with her hair, nuzzling her shoulders, breathing in her ears. It was enough to drive her batty.

Eventually, she lost patience with him and slapped her last book into his hands, telling him to sit down and read or go somewhere else.

That lasted about as long as she expected, though she was impressed he even gave it a whirl. But soon she was back to dealing with a very bored dragon slayer who insisted on using her as his entertainment. The next few hours were spent with her trying to focus all her attention on her book, while absentmindedly batting him away from her whenever he did anything too annoying. In fact, she was so busy trying to ignore him, that she didn't even notice when she had to swat at him less and less.

She didn't realize anything was off until they'd made it all the way to noon and it was time for lunch. When her little clock chimed the hour, she put down her pen and leaned back, stretching out her spine and reaching for the ceiling with a grunt.

"Alright…time for lunch I guess. What do you want?" she sighed as her stretch went limp after a few satisfying pops.

"Anything's good with me!" Natsu replied, sounding just as eager as usual when it came to food, but there was a slight note of distraction in his tone that caught her attention.

She frowned at him, noticing the slightly glazed look in his eyes that he got whenever he was lost in thought, and she wondered what could have preoccupied him so deeply. Shrugging to herself, she decided not to poke her nose into it and instead hopped up and headed into the kitchen to make them sandwiches and soup. It was then that she started to notice other little things that didn't line up with his earlier behavior. Before, he'd practically been wrapped around her while she cooked, and every time she stopped he would cuddle up to her. Now, he was actually putting some space between their bodies… though he still stayed close enough for him to keep one hand on her at all times.

When they finally sat down to eat, it was the same story. Instead of pressing his side to hers, he ate one-handed and left his other hand on her knee under the table. As she munched on her sandwich, she eyeballed him in her peripheral vision and contemplated what could have caused the change. In one way, it was a lot less pushy and he wasn't in her personal space nearly as much, which made her wonder if maybe he was coming out of heat. It would be a lot earlier than he had predicted, but perhaps it was possible.

However, what had happened earlier made her think that wasn't the case. He'd reacted way too strongly for him to be coming out of heat…which suggested that something else was going on. Perhaps this new behavior was an indication that he was entering a new stage? Though she wasn't sure why a more advanced stage would result in him having less contact with her.

Another little alarm bell was set off when she excused herself to go to the bathroom after they'd finished eating. Like before, he followed her and protested greatly, but there was something different about his complaints. As she did her business, the expression that had shot across his face before she slammed the door shut kept haunting her. It had looked…_pained_. As if letting her go actually physically hurt now, instead of just being uncomfortable. That seemed impossible, but she didn't really know anything about dragon slayers going into heat, so who was she to say what was possible and what wasn't?

The concern drove her to be extra speedy with her business, and she exited as fast as possible.

She expected him to launch at her like before, but that wasn't exactly what happened this time around. As predicted, he lunged as if to grab her, but at the last second he pulled up short and seemed to force himself back a step, though his hand did lash out and latch onto her wrist. His grip was much tighter than before. Painfully so in fact.

"Um…ow. Loosen up a bit please? That hurts." she protested with a wince and he immediately lightened his touch.

"Sorry! Sorry…I, uh…I guess I got a little overexcited…" he chuckled awkwardly.

"Right…well, no problem."

The tense atmosphere thickened a smidge with discomfort and she felt like wincing but held it back. After a long moment of uncomfortable silence, she cleared her throat. "So…I was thinking about writing some more…but I know that's super boring for you. I'm not really sure what else we could do though…"

After mulling over and discussing various options, they eventually settled on playing board games for a couple of hours before she got back to writing.

To play, Natsu actually stopped keeping his hand on her, but the tip of his knee stayed pressed to hers as they sat cross-legged next to each other. The games seemed to perk him up, as if the distraction helped him as much as it did her. Personally, she relished the diversion from all the stress and strangeness between them, and she actually felt like things almost went back to normal as they did their best to beat each other.

Thanks to that, several hours later – after multiple rounds of boardgames – when Lucy headed back to her desk and got to work on her book again she was able to actually concentrate much better than before.

However, her consternation came back full-force when – much to her shock – Natsu picked up the book she'd given him earlier and actually settled down to read it. He parked next to her and leaned back against her so his shoulders were pressed to her leg while he read, which also gave her the perfect view over his head. To her surprise, he actually seemed to be reading, since he was turning pages at a regular rate.

_Well so much for writing_…she thought sourly, once again utterly distracted and consumed by confusion from Natsu acting out of character. What the heck was up with him?!

Still, she valiantly tried to apply her brainpower to pen and paper instead – even resorting to all sorts of meditation techniques to try and quiet her mind so she could focus. None of worked though. All she could manage was blanking out her brain like an empty piece of paper, but as soon as she tried to fill that space with book related material, it got completely covered with scrawls all related to Natsu.

An hour later found Lucy with her face pressed into her open palms on the desk, thinking that she had a very special brand of writer's block named, "Natsu."

The object of her distraction pulled her out of the morose thoughts by shifting and then putting the book aside. She moved back till just her forehead was still on the desk and then looked down and to the side at him from under her arm.

He shifted around again, almost squirming as if uncomfortable, and then cleared his throat.

"Um…I gotta go take a leak…"

Lucy could just feel her face deadpan and she suppressed a groan. '_Really Natsu? Talk about tact…' _she thought to herself, pinching her forehead with the fingers still trapped under her face. That action popped her head up off the desk a bit, and she sighed, desperately grasping for patience.

"Alright…then go. You know where to find the bathroom." She yanked one hand away from the desk and flapped it in the general direction of the aforementioned room.

He cleared his throat again and made no move to go. "Well…uh…"

When she heard him actually fumbling around for words, her head completely left the desk and she shot him a consternated look. He was acting so far from his normal self that she didn't even know how to respond and wondered what in the world could get that sort of reaction out of him. Whatever he was about to say had to be bad if _Natsu_ was embarrassed.

A little huff said that he lost his patience with trying to find the right words, and he finally looked at her over his shoulder with that particular blunt expression he always got whenever he was about to suggest something completely stupid or outrageous.

"I need you to come with me."

For a long moment she just stared at him while her brain worked to try and process the statement. "Um…I'm sorry. What?"

If possible, his expression just got more bullheaded and stubborn, but the pink tinge to his ears said he was actually uncomfortable. "I need you to come with me when I go to the bathroom."

Yep. That's what she thought he had said.

Her immediate response was, "No way! What are you even talking about?! There's absolutely no way I'm coming with you to the bathroom! What is _wrong_ with you?!"

He winced and she felt just a little bad for blowing up at him, but what was she supposed to do with a shocking request like that?

"Sorry, but…I really need you to. It's uh… It's really getting painful to not have some kinda contact with you. And…I don't even think I _could_ force myself to walk away from you…I don't think my body would allow it."

At that, she was left blinking at him in shock. It was very easy to see that he was being completely sincere, because he had the look in his eyes that he always did whenever he told her something he didn't really want to.

Sure, she'd thought to herself that he looked pained earlier when she shut the bathroom door in his face, but she hadn't thought it was _this_ bad. She still didn't think she could let him join her in the bathroom, but…if he literally couldn't force himself to walk away from her, there was no way he could go to the bathroom by himself.

At that thought, all of a sudden she realized that this had to be a very unpleasant situation for him. She couldn't even imagine how horrible it was to be completely dependent on someone else just to go to the bathroom. It was almost like a hospital patient situation in a way, and that outlook helped to clear her mind somewhat.

"Oh…well, that's different then. Sorry for snapping… I wouldn't have if I'd better understood the situation. Um…I guess if there's no other option…yeah, I'll come with you."

He instantly looked relieved and happily hopped up, making a beeline for the bathroom and dragging her along behind him. It shouldn't have been a shock that he would recover from his discomfort fairly quickly… but _she_ certainly didn't. As soon as they halted in front of the toilet, she spun around and plugged both ears. Even through the sound muffling barrier, she heard him laughing at her and felt her expression devolve into a sulky one, thinking to herself that he should show a little more gratitude.

Because her hands were otherwise occupied, his hand landed on her hip. A few moments later, when he apparently needed both hands, his foot slid between hers and hooked around her ankle. The switch startled her into jumping a little, and once again she heard him laughing at her expense.

The whole awkward experience concluded fairly quickly, and soon she found herself back at her desk, trying to pretend it hadn't happened. She also resolutely tried to keep herself from contemplating future bathroom trips and how they would be accomplished if he had to always be in contact with her now. And if she was drinking less than usual…it was just because she wasn't thirsty…certainly not because she was trying to postpone anything.

...

By the time dinner rolled around, she had come up with a plan. It was infallible. It was perfect. And…it totally failed.

Essentially, as evening commenced and she started to see the futility in trying to not think of the inevitable, her method changed and she had begun to plot an escape route. All throughout dinner preparations she had perfected the plan, so that by the time it was ready to be put into action, she was thoroughly prepared.

Natsu's plate was piled high and she waited until he was completely engrossed and had a mouthful of food before she struck, excusing herself quickly and making a hasty getaway. Normally, the food would have kept his attention at least long enough for her to get to the bathroom and shut the door…but unfortunately for her she hadn't calculated the fact that apparently being in heat had finally switched his priorities around.

Thus the current situation…her yanking on the bathroom door and complaining while he kept it open. Her other wrist had been grabbed by his free hand and was held captive in the open space between door and jamb.

"I'll only be a minute Natsu, just give me a sec!"

"I can't! Just…let me in! It's not that big a deal!"

"It is to me! There's no way I can go to the bathroom with you in there with me! So give up already!"

"What if I turned around, closed my eyes, plugged my ears, and hummed a tune just like you did? And you could do the same thing I did and touch me with your foot!"

"No!"

This time she simply couldn't concede, mainly because it would make the whole exercise pointless anyways. She had an extremely shy bladder, and if anyone was in the room with her, she simply clenched up so tight that she couldn't pee. It was something she'd discovered multiple times from going to bars with the other Fairy Tail girls.

Eventually, she simply had to give up some of her dignity and explain this fact to Natsu. "Um…I literally _can't_. It just won't happen if someone else is in the room with me. We'll be sitting there for hours and it won't…do it."

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

She groaned and planted her burning face into her free hand. "Look… you know how you have to sort of relax? To go? If I'm embarrassed, everything kind of clenches up and I just can't go."

"Seriously? You mean you're literally a tight ass?"

"Natsu! Not appropriate!" she snapped while glaring at him through her fingers.

He snorted. "Oh whatever, you know it was funny. But I really can't believe you just can't go. Have you ever tried?"

"Yes of course I have! When Cana and I go to the bar we often get a stall together. She can always go on a dime, but I just…would end up sitting there getting more and more embarrassed." Then, thinking back on those humiliating times, she grumbled under her breath, "Didn't help that she kept teasing me about it either."

"I bet!" he laughed, seeming to find it funny.

He didn't find it so amusing though when she smacked him and snapped, "Yeah laugh it up, but this is still while you aren't coming in there with me!"

He sobered up real quick when she lunged backwards and tried to close the bathroom door again. His grip on her wrist kept her from closing it completely, but she did what she could and glared at him through the crack. "Let go!"

"Come on Luce, I'm sorry! I promise I won't tease! And you can take however long you need! Please!"

"No means no!" she growled, irritated and desperate enough that she resorted to force. When she yanked on her arm even harder he went with her, so she slammed the door on his wrist. He winced a bit, but that wasn't really enough to hurt him much with his tough hide. Still, it was enough to make him let her go – although she suspected that he had forced himself to let go when he'd seen her slightly frantic expression.

As soon as the door was shut and locked, she hurried to do what she needed as quickly as possible, though she had to plug her ears to block out Natsu's continued pleading outside the door. The added pressure didn't help her to expediate the process, but thankfully she was able to finish relatively fast despite that.

It was barely a minute, but she could definitely hear Natsu's tone turning panicky by the time she was done, so she wasn't surprised when he tackled her as soon as she opened the door. Well actually, she _was_ a little surprised. She'd half expected him to pull the same stunt as earlier…with a lunge forwards and then jerking back at the last second. It would have matched with his recent trend of avoiding too much contact between them. However, his desperate pleas for her to come back out were much, _**much**_ more urgent than she'd ever heard them, so she wasn't taken entirely unawares.

Mostly though, she was simply stunned by the ferocity of this particular attack, because he ended up taking them both all the way to the floor. Thankfully, one of his hands ended up behind her head, so she didn't brain herself on the hard tiles of her bathroom floor.

Still, the impact left her a little breathless for a moment.

"Shit…maybe you should'a stayed in there." he mumbled into her shoulder, and she blinked in surprise, glancing down at the top of his pink head.

"Wha?" she managed, and then a spark of irritation and confusion made her scowl. "Make up your mind! What's the problem?!"

He was silent for a long time… so long in fact that her mind started drifting to things it shouldn't… like how hot his breath was, and how she could feel his heart pounding against her ribcage, and how he was shivering with tension. Those were all indications that something was wrong, but they were also things she shouldn't focus on too closely.

"Well?" she prompted when it didn't seem like he would answer and she needed to distract herself.

"The urges are getting worse. And they're…changing…"

She felt her stomach lurch. "Uh…changing how exactly?"

"I'm wanting new things…things that I probably shouldn't want."

"What kind of things?"

She wasn't thinking when she asked that. Perhaps she was simply overly hopeful that he'd say something like… well… something not sexual. She'd accept _anything_ to prove her dirty thoughts wrong.

When he hitched his head up and leveled a blunt stare at her that plainly asked, '_do you really want the answer to that question_?' she flushed about twenty shades of red.

"Uh, never mind."

After a moment of eye contact, he sighed and let his head thunk back down onto her shoulder.

They stayed like that for a long time as Lucy's rattled nerves buzzed around and made it hard for her to make sense of anything.

Eventually she gathered herself together enough to murmur, "Should I be worried?"

He pulled back again, this time to shoot her a somewhat hurt look. "You know I'd never do that to you."

She wasn't sure how to take that… whether it meant he didn't like her like that, or that he would never rape her. In the end, she decided it was probably both.

"I know," she sighed, but after a moment she felt the need to point out, "Though, uh, normally you wouldn't be doing the things you've been doing the past few days either."

"Yeah…true." A worried look passed through his eyes but it was snuffed out quickly.

Lucy trusted Natsu more than anyone else in the world, so she knew he'd do his absolute best. But she also knew that this thing seemed to be getting harder and harder for him to control, and they had at least three more days to go before it was over. It was hard not to doubt that they'd make it through unscathed… but she did her best. Putting blind faith into Natsu was something she was fairly accustomed to.

After a while, she somewhat blandly suggested, "Why don't we relocate to somewhere that isn't my bathroom floor?"

"Right. Yeah." he grunted and pried himself from her.

When he once again put some space between their bodies on the way back to the kitchen table, she finally had her answer about why he was doing it. If he was having these new 'urges,' then it was obvious that he had chosen to control them by limiting their physical contact. He was keeping his distance to protect her, even though she could now see how uncomfortable it was for him.

...

'Uncomfortable' didn't even begin to cover what Natsu was actually feeling right about now.

The food he shoveled in his mouth tasted like nothing, because all he could smell was Lucy. He was sort of eating just out of instinct, but his appetite was actually pretty much gone. His stomach still growled, but he didn't care about the food…or about anything really…except the woman sitting next to him.

Of course, he'd known what picking Lucy as his mate meant, so he couldn't exactly say he was surprised by the stupid urges that had been torturing him all day. He'd thought he was prepared for it…that the lust wouldn't be that big a deal…man was he ever wrong. He had seriously underestimated this thing and now he was kicking himself for it.

He ached and burned all over and not touching her was like…he didn't even know. It was _**unbearable**_. Worse even than motion sickness.

Whenever he wasn't touching her, his stomach churned and knotted up so tight he thought he was gonna hurl, his skin itched all over, his whole body shook, and all he could think about was touching her again. When she ran off to the bathroom, he'd nearly had a panic attack and any thought of eating had completely flown out of his head. Food? What food? Lucy was leaving!

So yeah… not touching her was terrible.

On the other hand, touching her was _also_ bad news now, stupid as it seemed. He would have thought it would fix the problem. If it hurt to not touch her, then doing the opposite was the solution right? Yeah…not so much anymore. That mindset had worked just fine for the past couple of days, but not today. Now, touching her caused a whole new set of issues he had to deal with.

The longer he touched her, the more he wanted to touch. And then, if he gave into it, that urge would get even worse and he would want more, and _more_, and _**MORE**_. It was so dumb. Putting his hand on her made him want to hug her… hugging her made him want full body contact from head to toe… but too much contact made him start to want to touch her in ways that he was pretty sure would get him kicked by Lucy and killed by Erza.

Not to mention…he'd never hated clothes so much in his entire life. Hers constantly taunted him with the desire to rip them off and his felt like sandpaper on his skin.

But as much as it frustrated him, he just couldn't stand not touching her. That wasn't an option. He had to have at least one hand on her at all times, or else he felt like he was going crazy. But…that was all he was trying to let himself have. If he limited all touching to one hand, it sort of helped keep the urges at bay. Plus, he figured that putting some space between their bodies was a good thing anyways, since pressing too close would probably mean she'd get a feel of what was going on downstairs. Based off what happened this morning, he doubted pressing his dick against her would go over too well.

Then again, he wasn't too happy about it either…he didn't really like having his body doing shit he hadn't decided to do.

It wasn't like he'd never had a boner before, he got them plenty when he was around Lucy and her stupid miniskirts. But they usually just went away eventually. Not today though. He was pretty sure the boner he had woken up with had never really gone away completely, and it was getting more and more difficult to ignore.

He just hoped that he could keep the damn thing to himself….

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_Lucy gestured down at her front, which was currently soaked in marinara sauce, thanks to a little incident during dinner. Even her hair hadn't escaped unmolested, and she grimaced at the sensation of tomato paste sticking to her neck._

_"I absolutely have to take a shower." she repeated emphatically, but then sighed, already able to see where this was going._

_And right on cue… "Then I'm coming in there with you."_


	6. CH 6: Let's Get Wet - But Not Like THAT

**Author's Note:**

Alrighty! It's Sunday! I promised I wouldn't forget again, and here we are! On time! Yay!

As always, HUGE thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to Xerzo LotCN, fairyblue1132, HotvampGurl23, valerioux, Anna5949, stranger1999, waiting-for-you443, iamanimefreak13, OhtaSuzuke, dani-yell10, illleashya, BrokenAngelWings83, Andria Justus Haynie, NaLuAlways26, aliciacevbra, GothBanshee, SistershoOK, Leomae2.0, quidditchChick6, Katnibal94, PandoraJ, issa, Lucinda, MysteryReader7311, BeautifulSamurai, RavenHunter97, MOONECLIPSEHQ, CodenameMise, and CathJorda. You guys are all amazing!

Alright! Here's the much awaited marinara scene. ;D

And stay tuned till the end for the next sneak peek.

* * *

"Do you have to?" Natsu whined, giving her puppy dog eyes.

"Yes! Do you see this mess?!"

Lucy gestured down at her front, which was currently soaked in marinara sauce, thanks to a little incident during dinner. Even her hair hadn't escaped unmolested, and she grimaced at the sensation of tomato paste sticking to her neck.

"I absolutely have to take a shower." she repeated emphatically, but then sighed, already able to see where this was going.

And right on cue… "Then I'm coming in there with you."

That was precisely what she'd expected, and as uncomfortable as the experience promised to be, she knew it was probably necessary. If he couldn't handle being separated from her while she used the toilet, there was no way he could deal with her taking a shower.

After another sigh, she grumbled, "Yeah, I already figured that."

His tense shoulders went lax with shock and his eyes widened. It seemed her quick agreement temporarily stunned Natsu, and she watched with tired amusement as he absorbed the information. She could easily tell when it finally sunk in, because his eyes lit up and then slid closed as he shot her his biggest grin.

"Thanks Luce!"

"Yeah, yeah…you're welcome…"

With yet another sigh, she started plodding over to her dresser and snagged her pajamas, figuring it was late enough in the evening to warrant changing into sleep clothes. While she was there, she also snagged Natsu's pjs – which she had put away in the same drawer she kept hers in. The dragon slayer had also been sauced, so he would need a shower as well.

And then there was nothing left to do but drag Natsu into the bathroom with her.

She stalled the inevitable as long as possible by doing all the little necessary actions that needed to take place before a shower…like closing the door, turning on the heater and water, getting out some fresh towels and washcloths, and neatly folding their pjs on the countertop next to her sink. Once she had run out of stalling tactics, she eyeballed the shower arrangement and slowly came up with a plan. Getting one more towel out of the closet, she walked Natsu over to the edge of the shower. It was lucky she had a walk-in shower next to the wall, because she could park him on the floor next to it.

"Alright, here's the deal. You sit there. I'm going to put this towel over your head so you can't see. Kay?"

He sat down where she pointed and leaned back against the wall, but his arm was still raised up in the air so he could keep hold of her wrist. When she dropped the towel over his head he grunted, and then she heard him blow out a big puff of air against the cloth now in his face. It was a big towel though, so it barely budged under the air pressure.

His free hand snuck under the towel and lifted it away from his face a little, making a tent under the terrycloth. "This sucks… it's hard to breathe under here…" he complained, flapping his hand a little to make the towel bounce.

"Sorry, but that's the rule."

She was already disrobing, but she reached a problem very quickly when his grip on her wrist prevented her from getting her shirt off her right arm. Without thinking, her eyes glanced down at the situation and she abruptly flushed as she was confronted by a surprisingly flustering sight. Her top half was mostly naked, with her shirt and bra held in one hand bunched up above Natsu's hand on her wrist… and seeing herself like that next to him, with him touching her, spontaneously spawned a whole host of butterflies in her stomach.

Clearing her throat, she somehow managed to keep her voice somewhat steady as she asked, "Hey, can you move your hand please? I can't get my shirt off with you holding me like that."

"Oh yeah…sure."

Perhaps she should have thought her request through a little more though, because then she might have remembered he had to keep constant contact with her. And _that_ meant that as soon as his fingers unlocked from her wrist, his hand immediately landed on her hip…and then trailed down her leg to get to her ankle. The sensation of Natsu's fingers sliding over her skin really shouldn't have felt as sensual as it did, and she sincerely hoped that he hadn't noticed her erupting into goosebumps.

Resolutely trying to ignore the shiver going through her, she did her best to clear her mind and focus on just getting into the shower. Without thinking about it, she whipped off her skirt and underwear and then stalled out on the other knee, running into the same problem as before.

"Er…swap ankles please." she mumbled, flushing brilliantly yet again. It was so much harder to ignore what was going on when she had to actually interact with him.

To help him grant her request, she brought her other ankle close enough for him to feel it on the back of his hand and he made the switch fairly easily. Unfortunately, her sense of balance decided to fail midway through the procedure, so she let go of her clothing with a yelp and quickly grabbed the nearest object to brace herself. That happened to be Natsu's shoulder. It _could_ have been the wall… a fact which she instantly realized and kicked herself for not opting for. However, a sudden moment of clarity told her that this was simply the way it was… if she was falling or in danger, she always reached for Natsu first.

Well. Great.

Her musing was interrupted by said dragon slayer, whose right hand had snapped out from under the towel to steady her. "Woah! You okay Luce?"

How he'd managed to land his hand on her left hip – the side she'd been toppling towards – she had no idea. Unless he was peeking.

"Thanks… I'm fine. Just lost my balance. But how did you do that?! Are you peeking?" her fingers wrapped around his wrist to help illustrate her meaning.

"No, I'm not peeking, Weirdo. Couldn't even if I wanted to with this damn towel in my face."

"Then how did you…oh whatever. Never mind." she huffed, standing up and releasing his shoulder as she kicked the clothes off her free foot. She shook his hand off her naked hip while she was at it, because that was _waaaay_ too intimate for her well-being.

By now the water was hot enough to steam up the room and she was naked, so she quickly made to get into the shower. However, he protested as she turned, and she paused so his left hand could switch back to her right ankle, since they were now facing the same direction. Once he had a solid grip on her, she finally stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain between them over his arm, feeling a small amount of relief at having the barrier between them.

It worked, though the only downside was that the shower curtain hiked up a bit and bulged into the shower around his shoulder since he had to lean in to keep his hand around her ankle. Still, it was better than having him in the shower with her.

"Can I take this towel off my head while you're in there? It's super freaking stuffy under here."

"Yeah…that should be fine."

Her curtain wasn't see-through, so it shouldn't pose a problem as long as he kept his head on the other side. It did, however, increase her self-consciousness… knowing that there was one less barrier between them made her feel even more naked somehow. Shaking her head, she forcibly tried to refocus her mind and ignore the sensation of his hand on her ankle and his presence on the other side of the curtain. Right now, she just needed to get all the marinara sauce off her skin and out of her hair.

She focused on the hot water and the amazing feeling of her soapy loofa scrubbing away those sticky patches of dried tomato sauce. The paste had been getting fairly irritating and itchy by now, so it felt wonderful to finally get it off. Scouring the red mess out of her hair was equally satisfying, and she sighed in enjoyment as she finished scrubbing and then dunked her head under the spray, letting the water run over her face too. There was something strangely soothing about having water pouring over her head and face…it always calmed her mind somehow. Perhaps it was the sound of droplets hitting her head and drowning out everything else that gave her the feeling of suddenly being in her own little water bubble.

Whatever the case, she was able to relax for a moment under the spray, but then her mind began to drift as she dropped her guard. Her attention slid back down to Natsu's hand without her permission, and she was a little surprised to realize that the feel of his skin was still hot…even when she was warm from a hot shower. Somewhat absentmindedly, she wondered how hot he would need his bathwater to be for it to actually feel warm to him.

A little while later, she realized that she'd rinsed her hair plenty – probably too much actually – and it was time to get out. Since Natsu needed a shower as well, she left the water running but pointed the showerhead away from her so she could dry off behind the shower curtain. She'd slung a towel over the curtain bar, so she quickly buffed off and then tucked it around her body before stepping out of the shower.

"Alright. Your turn."

He scowled up at her, but even the king of not taking showers had to admit defeat when she gingerly flicked a tuft of pink hair and a flake of dried red sauce fell off and landed on his cheek.

"Yeah…guess you're right."

As she dragged him over to the counter so she could grab her pajamas and a towel for him she grumbled, "I'll never understand what you have against taking showers."

He didn't even try to explain himself, just grinned at her unrepentantly. She sighed and rolled her eyes, then tossed the towel over the curtain rod and parked herself where he had been, on the floor holding his ankle.

And then she nearly had a heart attack as he started shedding clothes.

"Ack! Wait just a minute!" she stammered, slamming her eyes shut as his fingers started working on his belt. His vest was already across the room in a heap.

"Don't you want me to put a towel over my face?!"

"Nah. It's fine."

Her breath puffed out through her nose in an irritated and mildly amused snort as she shook her head. His lack of shame would never cease to amaze her. Still, that didn't mean that she wasn't flustered… especially when she felt the heavy fwump of his pants landing on her hand at his foot. The confirmation that he was naked sent her heart into a fluttery mess, and she immediately began contemplating math in great detail, having found it to be one of the better options to distract herself.

She was still paying enough attention that when he jiggled his leg a little, she got the message and quickly slid her hand out from under his pants, pulling it free and instantly grabbing him higher on his calf so he could kick his pants off.

And then he was stepping towards the shower, and she quickly realized that she had done the same thing he had earlier and needed to switch hands… unless she wanted to be dragged halfway into the shower herself.

"Oh…wait…hold up a sec…" she sputtered, attempting the swap without dropping her towel. Her eyes nearly opened in surprise, catching a glimpse of a smooth tan flank before her eyelashes smashed closed again.

Naturally, Natsu hadn't listened to her and kept stepping forwards, which caused her upper half to twist uncomfortably in an effort to keep contact with him. _'Damn it, he's the one who wants this constant contact…he should pay attention!'_ she thought sourly to herself, and in exasperation she simply let him go so she could swap hands.

Releasing him entirely obviously caused an unpleasant reaction, because he instantly grunted and whined at the same time, creating a very interesting noise indeed.

"Luce, don't…!"

She had made the swap by then and was already reaching out with her other hand. A lightly furry calf met her open palm, and she closed her fingers around it. "Well, stop next time I ask you to! I'm not going to be dragged into the shower or twisted in half!"

His relieved sigh made her feel ever so slightly guilty, but it really had been his fault for not listening to her.

"Sorry Luce…I'll pay more attention next time."

"Good." she huffed.

The sound of the shower curtain being drawn and the sensation of it bumping over her arm made her squint gingerly, and when she saw it was fully closed she opened her eyes. Just like Natsu had, she found herself having to lean into the curtain a good deal to follow him, and quickly discovered that it wasn't the most comfortable position. It also made dressing more than a little difficult, but she really wanted to be clothed by the time he was done.

Just to be safe though, she warned him. "I'm gonna get dressed while you're in there, so don't come out till I say I'm done."

"Sure. Just don't let go of my leg okay?"

"I'll do my best."

Now that she had confirmation that he would stay in there, she let her towel drop and reached for the pile of clothes she'd plopped on the floor next to her. Getting on her pajama bottoms and underwear required a lot of crouched contortions and floorwork, but it was eventually all situated. Getting her shirt on was bit more complicated though, because she had to switch her hands out and then dry the wet one on a towel before shoving it through the arm of her shirt. Then she swapped back for comfort so she wasn't planted face-first into the shower curtain.

"Alright. I'm dressed." she called to let him know it was okay to come out whenever he was finished.

"Cool, I'm almost done too."

…

Meanwhile, Natsu was making a very difficult decision. Should he jerk off or not…? The question seemed like a no brainer in some ways, but it was actually a lot more involved than he would've thought.

On the one hand, his body was pretty much demanding it. He'd been hard all day, and by now he was sore and insanely oversensitive. He was desperate for some kind of relief from the constant pressure. Just an accidental brush of his wrist over the boner had nearly made him cum, and he hadn't even meant to do it. It was a good thing Lucy had such a loud shower, because the sound of water had masked his choked gasp. Something told him that she would flip if she found out what he was considering.

That was one of the major reasons he hadn't done it yet…because he knew Lucy wouldn't like it if she found out. But there was an even better reason that he held back. Something deep in his gut told him that jerking off wouldn't help and might actually make things worse. If he let himself go there, he felt like it would release the ball of fire that had been slowly building in his belly, and he didn't know what would happen if he lost control of that flame. It felt dangerous, like it would take him over, and he was afraid of what he might do if that happened.

So, in the end, he forced his hands away from his junk and finished scrubbing the tomato sauce off as fast as possible to reduce the temptation. As soon as he got the all clear from Lucy that he could come out, he finished up his rinse, turned off the water, and grabbed the towel dangling over the curtain rod.

When he yanked the shower curtain back, Luce went into a fit of puffing and spitting like it had smacked her in the face, and he internally winced a little… but also couldn't help laughing at her funny reaction.

"Oops."

"Darn it all Natsu…be more careful would you? Think before you do something!"

She glared up at him and then went super red and slammed her eyes closed. "NATSU!"

"What?"

Wondering what the hell he'd done now, he glanced down to see that he was amazingly lucky. He'd been drying his belly and the tail of the towel unintentionally covered his dangly bits, which he hadn't even thought about. Oops. Again. Well, even if it was a happy accident, at least Lucy hadn't gotten a look at his hard-on. That probably would've _really_ freaked her out. Even Natsu might have been a little embarrassed about her seeing the state of the thing.

"What's wrong? I'm covered…" he asked, wondering what had upset her since he hadn't exposed anything he shouldn't.

"Not really! You were still drying off!"

Ah. So she'd noticed that he wasn't paying attention to it and was freaked that she _might_'_ve_ seen something. Made sense. Actually, it was a good thing she'd made a fuss, because he might have even dropped the towel without thinking about it if she hadn't.

Oh well. It worked out fine in the end, so he decided not to waste time worrying about it.

"Here! Finish drying already and put on some clothes!"

He blinked down at the pajamas she was holding up to him. They were the soft ones she had gotten for him the other day, and he was happy to put them on. He yanked the shirt over his head first, and then reached down and put his hand on top of Lucy's wet hair so he could shake her hand off his ankle. That made it a lot easier to get his pants on.

"All done. You can open your eyes now."

She squinted a little, as if she didn't believe him, and then both brown eyes popped open. He shot her a grin. "See? I told ya. Didn't you believe me?"

"I didn't know if your definition of '_done_' matched mine."

The huffy reply made him laugh. It was so like Luce to say something snarky like that. Sometimes she came across as so prissy…especially when she was mad at him, and he always found it so damn funny and cute. He felt the same way about it when she blushed…which she was doing again right now.

"Um…is there anything you can do about _that_?"

"Huh?"

She bobbed her head, and he glance down to see he'd pitched a very obvious tent in the thin material of his new pants. Well… that was a little embarrassing. He had definitely been right about it being uncomfortable for her to see his out-of-control dick. There wasn't much he could really do about it though…except…an idea popped into his mind.

"Maybe. Give me a sec."

He whipped his scarf off from around his neck and looped it around his hips like a thick belt. Once it was tied on the side, he slipped his hand in his pants and arranged himself pointing up, so that he lay flat against his belly. Even just the little bit of touching had him gritting his teeth as crazy intense sensations shot up his spine and coiled in his gut, but he managed to get it done without making any sounds that would embarrass Lucy. When it was finally done, the scarf held him in place and the bump was barely noticeable under the thick white scales.

"There. Done. How's this?"

Once again, she seemed a little reluctant to look and glanced down out of the corner of her eye. When she saw what he'd done, she looked fully and her eyebrows rose. "Ah…um, yeah…that'll work. But doesn't your scarf have sauce all over it?"

"No, I wiped it off with a towel. It's made outta scales remember? Stuff comes off it real quick."

"Oh. Good thinking."

He nodded, silently agreeing with a smile. There was no way he was putting it on without wiping it off first…that would kinda defeat the whole point of taking a shower. He'd have to be an idiot to cover himself in sauce again after going to all the trouble of getting clean.

Now that it was all taken care of and they were both dressed, he saw no reason to stick around in the bathroom. It smelled too much like Lucy and reminded him of her being naked. So, he grabbed her wrist and tugged her along behind him as he walked into the living room, ignoring her grumbles. Then he stopped and looked around for a second, suddenly realizing that he had no idea what to do next. At that point he spun and gave Luce a grin.

"So now what? What do ya wanna do?"

"I don't know…I guess it's still a little early for bed."

"Yeah! Definitely. Hey! How about we play some more of those board games?"

There was a very good reason why he wanted to do something other than sleep right now. He was more than a little desperate for some kind of distraction from his physical state. Maybe some of his urgency got across, because she gave him a really long look… and then something changed in her eyes.

"Yeah. Sure Natsu. We can play some games. Which one do you want to start with?" she said with a smile that made his heart do all sorts of interesting and weird things.

He didn't even try to hide his relieved sigh, and knew he was practically beaming at her. "Thanks Luce!"

…

The next few hours were spent on the floor with a bunch of different games between them, and by the time Lucy called it quits, it was pretty damn late. Heck, even Natsu was getting tired. He was just about ready to head to bed himself… at least, up until she yawned and stretched in a way that made her loose t-shirt pull tight over her chest for a second, showing that she wasn't wearing a bra. That woke him up real fast.

"Alright…you win Natsu…I forfeit." she somehow said through the yawn.

That statement did nothing to help him settle down after seeing the shape of her breasts – and nipples – through her shirt. He'd been able to ignore his urges while they were playing games, but it all came rushing right back to the front of his mind now and he forced down a groan.

"Alright! So you wanna play again? Or do you wanna play a different game?"

It took a lot more concentration than it should've to keep his voice normal, and he wondered just what the hell it would sound like if he didn't put so much effort into it. Probably all gravelly and choked up.

Yeah…Lucy would know something was up in a heartbeat.

Although, maybe that would have been a good thing, because then she would have agreed to stay up later and play more games. As it was, she replied to his question with, "No…It's pretty late actually. I think I'm ready to head to bed."

"Really? You sure? How about just one more?"

Did he sound like a whiny kid? Probably. But hey, he was kinda desperate.

"I'm way too tired Natsu…sorry."

He was too honestly, but not nearly tired enough. Still, Lucy really did look pretty exhausted, so he couldn't bring himself to keep trying for another round. It probably wouldn't have done any good anyways, so he agreed with a sigh and followed her into the bathroom as she got ready for bed. He also brushed his teeth – using her toothbrush, which made her go all weird for some reason – and then took the opportunity to use the toilet while she brushed her teeth. She was at the sink, so it worked out just fine since the toilet was right next to it and he could still reach her with his hand.

Of course she freaked out as soon as she glanced over and saw what he was doing. "What are you…Natsu! Don't just…you can't…how could you…come on!"

He got the gist of it even though she never finished any of what she was saying.

"What's wrong? Don't youusually go before bed?"

"Well yeah, but…at least warn me not to look next time!"

He glanced down. There wasn't really anything to see, since he was sitting and had everything pointing down into the toilet, so he wasn't sure what the problem was exactly. But whatever…he shrugged it off and put it down to her being weird.

"Sure. If that's what you want."

"Yes! Please!"

"Okay, okay…jeez. You're such a weirdo Luce."

"_**I'm**_ a…!"

The next few minutes were full of her protesting and fussing at him, which he pretty much drowned out. It was kinda funny to watch her throw a temper tantrum while blushing, squeezing her eyes closed, and brushing her teeth.

He was much less amused when they swapped places… with her on the toilet and him throwing a fit.

By this point he couldn't stand being separated from her at all, but somehow he ended up on the other side of the door. He wasn't exactly sure how it'd happened… she had given him this look and said 'please' a bunch… and then she'd gotten mad and Lucy Kicked him… but when that didn't work, she went back to saying 'please.' In the end he couldn't say no to her, even though as soon as the door closed he felt like he'd suddenly stepped into the world's largest and most pissed off ant bed.

All he could do was hope that Lucy did her business super-fast, because he didn't know how long he could suppress the overwhelming urge to knock the door down between them. Fire built in his belly like it did before a fight as adrenaline rushed through him, making his heart pound and his breath come annoyingly fast. He felt feverish, sweaty, and shivery at the same time, like he was burning up from the inside while freezing from the outside. Cramps even worse than when he was on a train started twisting his gut, making him wonder if he was going to hurl.

The physical stuff was only part of it though… his emotions were also all over the place. Anxiety hit him upside the head like a damn brick, and he wasn't really sure what to do with the unfamiliar emotion, so he just paced back and forth in front of the bathroom door, trying to work off the extra uncomfortable energy. It felt like he was going crazy, and soon he was pounding on the door urging her to hurry up. Hell, he was practically on his knees begging.

She was probably only in there a minute or two, but it felt like forever, so when she finally came out he went a little nutty. As soon as the door opened, her scent swamped him and completely overwhelmed his senses. He immediately lost control and dove at her, grabbing tight and pulling her to him so he could bury himself in her smell. His momentum almost knocked them over again, but somehow he managed to throw himself backwards and twist until he slammed back-first into the wall next to the bathroom – yanking Lucy along with him for the ride.

She squeaked and grabbed onto him as he whirled them both around, and he felt his gut clench at the feel of her fingers digging into his sides. That just made him squeeze her closer as he leaned his shoulders hard against the wall, dragging her into the curve of his body and between his spread legs. Right now, he didn't even notice if he had a boner, but if he did, it was probably digging into her stomach…and he didn't even really care.

He was way more interested in burying his face in her hair and taking deep breaths to suck in as much of her scent as he could, eventually working his way down to her neck. The insane relief he felt made him weak in the knees, and he almost dragged them both down to the ground. He probably would have flopped over like a wet noodle if he hadn't been propped up like he was… and even _with_ the wall it took a wide stance to keep him on his feet.

"S-sorry Natsu…" Lucy stammered, obviously feeling bad about upsetting him.

He sighed, still kinda loopy from how suddenly all that painful shit left. It felt too good for any kind of anger to stick around, so he just sighed again and rubbed his nose against her shoulder. "S'fine…I'm okay now. Can we not do that again though?"

"I…uh…I mean…if it keeps getting worse… then…we might have to come up with something. But let's not worry about that right now, okay? Let's just go to bed."

Since his face was pressed so close to her skin, he felt her warm up with another blush and knew he'd still have a fight ahead. But he also didn't want to fuck with it right now.

"Sure. Sounds good." he mumbled, and then held back a groan when he felt her shiver against him and her breath stuttered.

He wasn't an idiot; he'd noticed how she responded to him… especially when he kissed her neck. And every time she _reacted_ likethat, he had to pretend not to notice because he knew it would freak her out. But he couldn't pretend to himself that he didn't like it a whole hell of a lot. Every one of her little shivers and hitch in her breathing shot through him like fire and made it super difficult to keep himself under control.

He had only been holding her a couple minutes and he could already feel that fire wind tight in his gut again, making his body respond and demand stuff he was sure Luce wouldn't approve of. Her body might do stuff that said she liked it when he touched her, but she had also freaked out about it all. He was positive that she wasn't ready for the kinds of things he wanted, and there was no way in hell he would ever force himself on her… at least not if he was in control of himself.

Which meant that he forced himself to push her away before his body could take over and do stuff without his permission.

As soon as he let her go, Lucy took a step back and awkwardly cleared her throat. "Right…well let's go ahead go to bed already…I'm exhausted."

He followed her around the apartment as she turned out lights and shit… but the entire time, he was busy thinking about them going to bed and how the hell he was supposed to keep himself under control. By the time she was slipping under the covers, he still hadn't figured out what to do about it… so he just crawled in behind the pile of pillows she shoved between them. He didn't know what else to do.

He curled up close to the pillows but kept himself further back than last night, just letting one hand rest on her waist instead of cuddling her… which was barely enough to satisfy the itch to touch her. Even keeping the contact down to one hand was getting almost impossible.

Damn it.

With all the balled-up tension in his belly and a raging hard-on, it was impossible to get to sleep for a very, very long time. It felt like he was right on the edge of going out of control, and sleep started to terrify him. He had no idea what would happen if he let himself relax for even a second… and relaxing was kind of an important part of sleeping. And once he was asleep, there was no telling what he might do to her.

…

Meanwhile, Lucy also had an insanely hard time going to sleep… and when she finally _did_ succumb thanks to pure exhaustion, her slumber was fitful and light.

She drifted in and out of half-formed dreams for an unknown amount of time before she was woken up by Natsu, who shuffled closer and started squirming around to get the pillows out from between them. All the activity easily woke her up thanks to sleeping so lightly. She immediately jerked awake at the first rustle, and then lay stiff and silent as he snuffled around behind her. As soon as she felt the pillows being shifted, she reached back and grabbed ahold of them, trying to keep the meager barrier in place to the best of her ability… but of course, it wasn't a good angle and Natsu was very persistent. She played with the idea of rolling over and bringing up her knees to hold onto the pillows, but the thought of facing him filled her with nerves. It might have been harder for him to get close to her in that position, but it also seemed more intimate somehow.

When the pillows eventually began to disappear to who-knew-where, she slowly started edging her way closer to the wall and window and away from Natsu, hoping to keep just a little space between them at least. Of course that didn't work, he just looped his arm over her middle and dragged her back into the curve of his body before burying his face in the back of her neck. His chest expanded against her back and she felt puffs of hot air against her skin as he snuffled at her – but his exhales were full of a deep rumble, so she knew he was asleep.

At that point she was kicking herself for not going with her gut and rolling over, because he couldn't have spooned her in that position. On the other hand – knowing how persistent and stubborn Natsu could be at times – she didn't doubt that he would have found a way to snuggle super close to her even then.

Still… she wasn't sure he'd have been able to get his hips close to her in that position… whereas right now, he was able to grind himself right up against her behind. As a distinct firm ridge dug into her, she stiffened with shock.

He couldn't be having a… yes. Yes he was. He was having _**that**_ kind of dream.

It was pretty obvious when he moaned softly into her hair and his hips rolled against her, grinding that ridge into her butt. Her mind went blank for a moment, heat pulsing through her body without permission. When he made another soft sound, she almost answered with her own, but gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut.

Her mind shifted through various profanities, and she started a mantra of, '_think about something else, think about something else, something else, ANYTHING else_…" but nothing really came to mind that trumped the feel of him bucking again and his lips finding her neck. Despite all attempts to distract herself… her belly fluttered with warmth, her heart rate kicked into high gear, her lungs suddenly decided that she was sprinting, and her face felt several hundred degrees too hot.

Warmth built and coiled and she could feel things happening that really shouldn't be happening under the circumstances. She wasn't dumb. She knew he could probably smell it if she got too aroused…which was why she always masturbated in the shower and nowhere else. He'd simply shown that his nose was much too sensitive for his own good – or her own good.

But right now she really couldn't help it. What was she supposed to do when the guy she loved was moaning in her ear, kissing her neck, and grinding against her? He was pressed so close that his heart pounded against her back, and she could feel exactly how his muscles contracted as he rolled his body against her, his breath coming faster against her shoulder. It was so erotic she didn't know what to do with herself….

On the one hand, she was thoroughly embarrassed and could feel the blush burning its way down her neck to her chest. But on the other… she was ridiculously tempted to just lay still and pretend to be asleep so she could experience a little more of this new sensual side of Natsu. She knew she would never have another chance to see it once he was out of heat.

And suddenly she found something that was depressing enough to use as a shield. The reminder that this was all just because he was in heat - and he didn't really have any feelings for her - acted like a bucket of ice over her senses. Not only was this fake, but it was also dangerous. If he got too riled up, she suspected he could easily lose that control he had been so obviously grasping at all day today.

This was not how she had imagined making love to Natsu. If he broke… she wasn't innocent enough to not know what would probably happen, and she didn't want that. Oh, she wanted to have sex with him… of course she did. She loved him. But she didn't want it like this, when it wouldn't mean anything and would only complicate their relationship.

Not to mention, he'd probably beat himself up over it, even if she did give him permission.

Well actually… if she gave him permission, he might not mind. She wasn't sure if he considered sex necessarily romantic. Since he was usually asexual, it probably wasn't a topic he thought about a lot. However, even if this was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity in that regard, she simply didn't want to risk it, and honestly didn't want the memory of it permanently etched into her mind either. Something told her that it would be a lot easier to keep pretending not to care if she continued to not know what she was missing.

And just like that, Lucy's mind hijacked her body and it stopped responding to the current goings on.

She'd read once in a women's magazine that the top problem a lot of people had in the bedroom was getting distracted by other things popping into their heads… but in this case it was a life saver, and she vigorously thanked her propensity to overthink everything.

With her new clear mindset, she focused solely on the best way to deal with the situation, trying to keep her brain unsullied even as he continued to rub against her. She sucked in a deep breath when his teeth bit into her shoulder, the brief sharp nip feeling weirdly good and causing her concentration to waver. A flinch went through her when he growled, stunning her a second time and prompting her to release the air she'd been holding.

Waking him up could pose some risks, but letting him stay asleep and hump her like a dog didn't seem like the best option either. What if he got himself really riled up and woke only after losing control? Forcing him awake before that seemed like the better option in her opinion… especially since it was obvious that he was getting more aggressive by the second. His fingers were clutching at her hip almost hard enough to leave bruises now, and his teeth kept getting involved with his kisses and nuzzles. If she waited much longer, she would be too late…. In fact, she might already be too late.

A zing of fear gave her a boost of strength, and she found enough resolve and courage to just go with her first plan of attack. She took a deep breath, aimed, and then slammed her elbow back into his belly as hard as she possibly could, hoping against hope that he wouldn't get aggressive and pin her down like this morning when she fought back.

Thankfully, by some miracle, she managed to either catch him off-guard or land her elbow in just the right spot, because he flinched back with a loud, 'oof!' In fact, he recoiled so hard that he ended up falling out of the bed.

She immediately slammed her eyes closed and deepened her breathing, doing her utmost to feign sleep in order to avoid embarrassment.

A whole string of cusses told her that Natsu was now completely awake and hopefully lucid. He was back in bed a few seconds later and his hand grabbed her shoulder urgently, the rough separation obviously having shaken him. After a few moments though, his tight grip eased up and she heard his deep sigh of relief and something else…some kind of aggravation she couldn't place.

Much to her surprise, he somehow managed to find the pillows that had disappeared and smooshed them back between his front and her backside, indicating that he was in full control of himself and she hadn't been too late. Her heart fluttered, a part of her deflating now that he was no longer touching her, but the relief overwhelmed that stupid notion…mostly.

This was for the best.

* * *

(P.S.: I'd originally titled this chapter, "Shower Hijinks and Wet Dreams," but thought that might give away a little too much, lol)

**Sneak Peek**

_After squinting and blinking a couple of times, she came into focus, and suddenly he was a lot more awake. Everything was still a bit fuzzy, but he was now very sure of a few important things. He was on top of Lucy. Very much on top of her. And he was between her legs. And they were in bed. She was also scrambling to close her shirt which he'd apparently ripped open. _

_No wonder she was pissed._


	7. CH 7: Bed, Bath, and Beyond Bad

**Author's Note:**

(otherwise known as 'Mainly Morning Mishaps')

Alrighty everyone! It's Sunday! Time for a new chapter!

As always, HUGE thanks to all of my wonderful, lovely reviewers out there! Big hugs and kisses to nicole3.14, iamanimefreak13, Karmitara, Anna5949, stranger1999, 19vanelkc, Xerzo LotCN, Katnibal94, Lucinda, aliciacevbra, valerioux, waiting-for-you443, dani-yell10, Andria Justus Haynie, SistershoOK, HotvampGurl23, fairyblue1132, CodenameMise, NaLuAlways26, OhtaSuzuke, kaystar92, quidditchChick6, Jazminee18, LovelyLovelyLove, CrazyZaika, BeautifulSamurai, BearPlusCat, ArtemisMoon, Always NaruIno, and G.

You guys are always absolutely amazing!

Now, on with the show! And be sure to stay till the end for next chapter's sneak peek. ;D

* * *

Natsu was very, very comfortable. In fact, he was right where he was supposed to be. The soft pillow under his head was just perfect, and he smooshed his face even more into it to get maximum happiness.

Except… as he pushed his cheek further into the cozy head rest, he discovered a couple of hard round things that bit into his cheek uncomfortably. Plus, the more he nuzzled, the more he weirdly felt like the texture under his skin wasn't quite right. Eventually, it bugged him enough that he got up the energy to move his head from side to side a little, trying to root the cloth out from under his face with his nose. When that didn't quite work, he grumbled and dragged his hand up to where his face was so he could pull the stupid thing away. He grabbed a fistful of the blanket – or whatever it was – and started yanking at it until it ripped. The sound was very satisfying, and he grinned as he shoved the pieces out from under his face.

Then, his head landed back on the soft pillow…or really, pillows. There were two of them. Which was great. They cradled his head in a super comfortable way.

It was _so_ comfortable, that he totally ignored the explosion of loud noises and the light punches landing on his head and shoulders. Somewhere in the fog of sleep, he realized it sounded like Lucy was irritated with him, but that wasn't exactly unusual, so he ignored it.

He didn't really care if she was mad at him. The only time he was ever bothered by her anger was if she was hurt or scared or something – but irritation was fine. She had a temper as bad as his, and half the time they didn't really mean it when they argued. It was more like play really, as far as he was concerned. Like a game. Kind of like when he and Gray went at it. In fact, he usually found it pretty funny when she got wound up… unless she went into full-on rage mode. Then she was scary.

His random thoughts were interrupted when something hard shifted and jabbed into his hip. He grumbled and twisted a little to the side until the pokey thing got out from under him, and then he flopped back down. His hips landed pillowed between more cushions, though there were some hard bits that were digging into his lowest belly a little uncomfortably. Strangely, that didn't really bug him though… it kinda felt like they were supposed to be there.

Things were quiet for a while, but soon the noise started up again, and this time he couldn't ignore the hands that shoved at his shoulders. A lot more force was used, and nails dug into his skin as he was shoved up and outta bed…which did not please him at all. He growled in irritation and smacked his hands into the mattress to prop himself up as he was forced away from his comfy spot – and then he grabbed fistfuls of the sheets to keep himself from being shoved back any more.

At that point, he found himself staring down at a very blurry Lucy.

After squinting and blinking a couple of times, she came into focus, and suddenly he was a lot more awake. Everything was still a bit fuzzy, but he was now very sure of a few important things. He was on top of Lucy. Very much on top of her. And he was between her legs. And they were in bed. She was also scrambling to close her shirt which he'd apparently ripped open. No wonder she was pissed.

She also looked super hot. Well, sexy too, but also really flushed and sweaty. He knew he ran a whole lot of degrees warmer than her, so she was probably burning up – which he felt a little bad about. But his brain was so busy with everything else that he didn't have much space left for guilt.

Some of the flush might have been from embarrassment though, because she also looked pretty flustered…which he couldn't help but find really cute.

Her eyes were wide, and he noticed her pupils were huge, which made her eyes darker than usual and strangely…enticing. Wasn't that supposed to be a sign that she liked what she was looking at? Did that mean she found him attractive? He found himself really caring about the answer to that question in a way he never had before. He wanted her to want him.

And with that thought came the fact that he really, really, _really_ wanted her. Right now in fact. She was so beautiful and sexy…and those urges he'd been struggling with came back in full force…even worse than yesterday. They were almost impossible to ignore, and his insides started heating up in a very dangerous way that made him feel like he was about to lose control at any second. His eyes burned as he stared down at her… to the point where it almost felt like he was glaring, and he really hoped it didn't look that way.

And then…just when he thought it couldn't get more intense, a certain smell hit him in the face with the subtlety of a bomb going off. It was warm, musky, a little salty, and a little citrusy…and it completely lit him on fire from the inside out. He'd caught a whiff of it last night, but it had been cut off short and then sort of…faded away. It hadn't been as strong as the one he was picking up now, and it seemed to be growing instead of going away this time.

He had no idea what it was, only that it was coming from Lucy. It was her scent, just…different. A new part of her scent he'd never picked up before. He didn't know why it had changed or why it made him insane…. All he knew was that it made his lust go completely crazy, and suddenly he was hard as hell and wanted nothing more than to fuck her into the mattress right here and now.

…

Lucy had no idea how she'd ended up in this particular position. Well, actually she did know, and it was kind of her fault, but she was still at a loss as to why it was happening.

(flashback)

She'd woken up feeling smothered and baked… but surprisingly, that wasn't what had ultimately roused her. No, what actually awakened her was the sensation of something bumping repeatedly into her breasts.

It turned out to be Natsu moving his head back and forth, nuzzling against her chest like he was somehow trying to nose all the way into her shirt. If she hadn't been fully awake by then, she definitely finished the waking process when she felt one of his hands slide up her torso, grab a fistful of her shirt, and yank… hard. She let out a squawk as all her buttons popped and it split down the middle.

"Natsu! Don't rip my shirt! What are you doing?!"

He was obviously still mostly asleep, because he completely ignored her protests and wrenched her shirt away from her chest so he could plant his face right into her naked breasts. It was a shocking feeling... the sensation of hot skin pressed against hers, while soft pink hair tickled the curves of her chest and collarbones and neck. It was…erotic… and she couldn't help but suck in a deep breath and hold it.

He had managed to take her by surprise, and her ability to overthink things was reduced greatly…which meant that she just _**felt**_ for a long moment. By the time her brain caught up with her body, it was already running away from her and had decided to heat up like a furnace. In some ways, quite literally. As soon as it hit her what exactly was happening, her face turned on like a burner ready to cook some eggs.

The embarrassment should have decreased her arousal…but it didn't really. It just increased her already too high pulse.

It was kind of a shock that she hadn't woken up sooner actually, now that she was more lucid and took closer stock of her situation. Her initial impression of feeling cooked and flattened was quickly explained by their position. All his weight was crushing her into the mattress, making her quick breathing even shallower… not to mention she was dripping with sweat thanks to his ridiculous body temperature.

She noticed these things within a few breaths, but then instinct kicked in and took over as adrenaline started rushing through her, traveling fast thanks to her speedy pulse. Fight or flight – in this case, _both_ – was the first thing that came to mind as she absorbed the sensation of him pinning her to the bed. The arousal actually increased her already prodigious panic, since it made her feel like the situation was spiraling out of her grasp…. which was a fairly terrifying prospect when Natsu's control seemed tenuous at best. What would happen if she was the one to lose control? She didn't doubt that Natsu would quickly fall into the same pit right behind her.

Thus, with adrenaline and fear fueling her, she immediately attempted escape. It was just a shame that doing so only made matters much, much worse.

When she dug her heel into the mattress for purchase to buck him off, her knee hiked up and he fell right into the space between her legs. The feel of his hips pressing against her way too intimately made her immediately freeze and rethink the life decisions that had led up to this point.

However, she snapped back to attention as he nuzzled into her chest again… especially when his nose bumped into her hyper sensitive nipple. She squeaked and tried to slide out from under him by shimmying up higher on the bed, hoping she didn't get trapped against the headboard. Naturally, Natsu didn't even let her get that far. Before she'd moved more than an inch or two, his hands had clamped onto her waist and were tugging her right back down so he could rebury his face in the space between her boobs with a soft raspy growl.

After another failed attempt to sneak out from under him, she gave up on the art of subtlety and simply gave him a good shove and yelled, "NATSU! GET OFF ALREADY!"

(end flashback)

Which was how she'd ended up with him on top of her, his hips still between her legs, and his upper body levered up on his arms.

He stared down at her with bleary eyes that quickly sharpened, and if she didn't know better, she would say he looked…hungry. And that thought didn't help her in the slightest. In fact, the whole picture he made sent her mind into a spiral of self-combustion, and she was currently struggling to bring it back online before her body betrayed her.

Any and all thoughts fizzled though when his entire body tensed up, and that look in his eyes got fiercer, brighter, and a whole lot less controlled. She instantly froze, suddenly quite concerned about what might happen next.

Even though she had a really good idea about what was going on, she felt like she should probably get confirmation. "Um…Natsu? What's wrong?"

"Luce… your scent… it's… doing something really weird. If you know what's going on… please… stop it. It's causing… _**problems**_."

She didn't need to ask what sort of problems those might be, since his husky voice told her more than she really wanted to know. Plus, the very stiff erection digging into her hip dispelled any doubts she might have had left.

"I…er…m-my scent huh?" she stammered, already positive that he was picking up on the scent of her arousal, which made her flush even hotter. She hadn't even thought flushing hotter was possible.

Her eyes darted around the room, looking for a fast solution to the problem. The obvious fix was to use personal wipes, but those were in the bathroom and something told her that Natsu wouldn't let her leave the bed right now. So that meant she had to use something within reach…. and finally a bottle of perfume caught her eye.

It was perfect. As long as she could get to her nightstand, it was within reach, and she was sure it would cover her scent. All she had to do was just wiggle to the side a little and stree_eeee__**eetch**_…. and much to Lucy's deep relief, her fingertips just barely managed to snag the bottle.

"This should do it…but you're going to have to get off me…please."

He grimaced and reluctantly pulled back, which let her grab the covers and disappear under them.

"Hey! Oi!"

"Just give me a second! You can touch me through the blanket right?"

"I…guess…" he grumbled, sounding perturbed. A few seconds later she felt him cuddle up to her side and his hand landed on her shoulder.

To keep what she was doing as hard to figure out as possible, she sat cross-legged with the blanket over her head. She then proceeded to aim the nozzle at her groin area and let loose with a cloud of flowery spray that was sure to mask any and all smells. The fact that Natsu immediately began to sneeze was a good sign… as was the fact that the space under the blanket became utterly unbreathable. She came out gasping and with watering eyes – but even so, it looked like Natsu had it much worse. His eyes were red, his nose was running, and he'd covered his face with a hand like the room had filled with poisonous gas.

"How much of that stuff did you use?!"

"As much as necessary. You said my scent was causing problems right? Well is it anymore?"

"No…I can't _breathe_ anymore either though…"

"Sorry…" Lucy chuckled.

He snorted, which sounded awfully funny with his nose pinched closed. "Yeah…well I guess it's better than what might have happened…"

She didn't even want to consider what he thought might have happened if he was saying that this was better… since she knew he absolutely despised her perfumes.

For a long awkward moment they just sat there on the bed, side by side with his hand now cupping her elbow. His whole body visibly shivered a little with what she imagined were aftershocks of whatever had just happened.

…

That was true. Natsu was currently doing his very best to calm the fuck down… which was a hell of a lot easier to do now that she smelled like a perfume shop explosion. Really, he hated the stuff, but it was kind of a blessing right now. It definitely helped to turn him off.

Mostly.

His lower body was pretty much not listening to any sense right now, and he suspected it was just gonna do its own thing today. Again. It also seemed a whole lot more insistent than yesterday, and it'd probably be a hell of a lot harder to ignore too.

Something told him today was not going to be fun.

Eventually he pried himself off her, which immediately felt like a bad idea. Everything in him protested that he should be as close to her as possible, but he was determined to keep his distance today, even more than yesterday. He felt dangerous and unstable….and not in a good way.

As soon as he let her go, she sprung outta bed and immediately shot towards the bathroom. He followed with a groan, already ready for a fight. He might be trying to keep his distance, but he was still gonna have to keep one hand on her at all times…or else bad things would happen. It was only thanks to his superfast reflexes that he was able to catch up to her in a few seconds, and his hand landed on her shoulder before she was three steps from the bed.

She kept going, dragging him along behind her. When they reached the bathroom though, she stalled out, and he could tell she was thinking hard about this.

To make things real simple, he went ahead and told her, "There's no way you can go in there by yourself today Luce."

She glanced at him, and the way she chewed her lip was super distracting. "Is the pain worse?"

"Um…" he thought about it but couldn't really tell. With a grimace, he gingerly took his hand off her to get a full sense of it. Immediately, he was stung by a thousand volts of bad and had to put his hand right back onto her before he hit critical mass.

It wasn't so much pain – though that was definitely still there and not fun. But today, there was something else too… something that said if he let her go for any period of time he might lose complete control of himself, and he didn't even want to know what might happen if he did. He'd promised her he would never rape her, but… all bets were off if he lost his control today, and that thought scared him more than anything ever had. Even Gildarts and Erza.

"It's not really the pain that's the problem…. I think if I let you go for too long, I might… lose control of myself."

Her eyes widened and he could see a little fear in them. He didn't blame her, but it still stung a bit.

"What…. what would happen if you lost control?"

With a sigh, he raked the fingers of his free hand through his hair to try and calm himself down a bit. "Pretty much anything between us would get destroyed for one. And then when I reached you… I dunno. I don't really wanna think about it to be honest. Yesterday I said I'd never…do anything like that to ya, but… I dunno Luce, I feel really weird today."

He didn't even want to look at her and see her reaction to that confession, so he kept his eyes off to the side until she finally drew a shaky breath and then blew it out slowly.

"Okay…well, then we'd better stay in contact today."

"Yeah."

There was a long pause, and then she started shifting from foot to foot, which he figured meant she really had to go.

"Why don't you just go in the shower?"

"Ew! Gross! But… I guess I could… but…I, uh…kinda need to do something else this time."

It didn't take him long to figure out what she meant, and he rolled his eyes. Honestly, what was the problem with just saying she had to take a crap? It wasn't that big a deal, everyone did it. But whatever.

"Okay, then what do you wanna do?"

"Um…" she bit her lip again, and then walked into the bathroom, looking around for something or other. He pretty much just stood there and tried to keep his thoughts to himself for once.

Eventually, she flipped on the vent switch to make a bunch of noise and then shoved him towards the tub. "Just, get in there and I'll put a towel over you. You can hold onto my ankle or something."

He shrugged and did as she asked, holding on to her wrist as he got himself in the tub. She tossed a large towel over him after he sat and he huffed a sigh, not liking it one bit. Based off their conversation yesterday, he figured this was gonna take a while, so he got himself as comfortable as possible – extending one arm and putting the other on the rim of the tub for him to rest his forehead on.

She moved his hand from her wrist to her calf, and he latched on, not really caring what he touched so long as it was part of her. Even just being in the tub felt like too much of a separation from her, so he had to close his eyes and focus all attention on his hand touching her, otherwise he had a nearly unbearable urge to rip the towel off and jump outta the tub.

After a moment the sink turned on high. As if the vent fan wasn't loud enough, she apparently really wanted to try to cover the sound of her going. For a normal person, he guessed it would probably work, but not for him. He could hear people doing shit from miles away, so he didn't really see the problem. But if it made her feel better, then whatever.

For a very, _very_, _**very**_ long time he sat there waiting for her to do her business. Normally he would've been pestering her to finish up already, but he understood she was having a rough time. He may not really get it himself – he'd been known to just grab a nearby tree, and generally didn't give a shit who saw – but he also knew that it would seriously suck if he had to go and couldn't.

People were always getting on him for having no patience, but that wasn't true. He actually did have patience he could use if he wanted to. What he didn't have, was patience for sitting around and doing nothing for no reason. For example, stake outs and stuff like that made no sense to him… not when he could just kick the door down and get the job done right then and there. He didn't see the point in waiting around to do something you could do right away. It seemed like a huge waste of time to him, and he hated wasting time. There was too much stuff to do to sit around on his ass and twiddle his thumbs for no good reason.

This was totally different though. Sure, he was waiting on Lucy, but it wasn't her fault that she had this issue. It wasn't like she'd chosen to have a tight ass… who the hell would? It seemed like it would be a huge pain in the ass.

Literally. Ow.

The only thing that frustrated him was that there wasn't anything he could do to help her, except sit here and be still and quiet. It wasn't like he could crap for her…. although now that he thought about it, he did need to go.

So, it wasn't super fun or anything, but he didn't necessarily mind waiting for her.

When she eventually did figure out how to do it, he was just relieved that he could get out of the tub – 'cause he was pretty sure that his leg was asleep, and by now he was dying to use the toilet himself. As soon as she pulled the towel off his head, he snagged her wrist with his nondominant hand and swapped places with her.

When he started the process of dropping trou, Lucy sputtered, "Wh-what are you…? Hey! Didn't I ask you to warn me before you do that!"

He rolled his eyes as she spun around – her arm stretched awkwardly behind her thanks to his grip – and slapped her other hand over her eyes.

She didn't have to stay that way long though. Unlike her, he didn't waste any time getting things done, and he honestly didn't care if she was in here or not.

When he let her know he was finished, less than a minute later, she made a loud huffy sound and turned back around. He shot her a big grin as she looked at him, and she responded by flushing a little and pursing her lips. The glare she sent him ended though when his stomach roared, letting them know he was starving.

"Alright, alright…no need to shout…" she snorted, tugging him out of the bathroom using his own grip on her wrist. "Let's get some breakfast."

"Aye sir!"

Just like yesterday, he followed her around the kitchen as she made breakfast, always keeping one hand on her while also putting space between them. Then, while they ate, he parked his hand on her knee under the table and ate with the other. She griped at him for making a mess, but hey, he was used to eating with both hands. He was still learning. And he had definitely improved… since she didn't need a shower after they'd finished.

He may have almost preferred that though, because instead he ended up sitting on the floor next to her again while he read and she wrote. Her book was interesting and all…but he really would have preferred doing just about anything else. Reading just wasn't something that grabbed and held his attention…and it _really_ didn't do enough to distract him from his raging hard-on.

His earlier thought about today was proving correct. It sucked.

The more hours that passed, the worse his situation got. His erection was harder and harder to ignore, and those damned urges were eating him alive. He was actually starting to really, really appreciate that perfume that was still drowning out her scent – even though it made his nose burn – because he didn't know if he would have been able to hold himself back otherwise.

He got a little relief when Lucy finally took pity on him after lunch and they played board games instead of reading. That helped distract him a little better. It didn't do nearly as much as the last time they played, but he'd take what he could get at this point.

…

Lucy wasn't oblivious to the change in atmosphere either. The tension that had been building between them over the past few days seemed significantly more oppressive today… so much so that she could practically feel waves of it shivering off Natsu. She was relieved that playing games seemed to dissipate it somewhat, but not nearly enough for true peace of mind.

It was getting worse, and there was no doubt in her mind that it was starting to seriously wear on Natsu. She could only imagine how badly he felt today… especially with what he'd told her earlier.

The fact that he was potentially desperate enough to destroy her apartment if they were separated didn't exactly instill her with a sense of wellbeing. In fact, she pretty much felt like she was sitting on pins and needles all day long, and by dinnertime she had a pounding headache from all the stress.

While she prepped their food, he followed her around as usual, but he kept even more distance between them… almost to the point that it looked like his arm was uncomfortably stretched. Anytime he happened to get too close accidentally, he jumped back like he was afraid she'd burn him – an ironic thought if she'd ever had one – and she found herself eyeballing him with a good deal of concern more than once.

It was really, really obvious that he was in some serious discomfort if not outright pain. He actually looked sick, like he had a fever – complete with flushing, sweating, and shivering. Half the time when she glanced at him, he was clenching his free hand so hard his knuckles were white, and she'd caught him chewing on his lip so many times that it was bleeding… which he didn't even seem to notice.

'_Has it really gotten so difficult for Natsu to hold himself back? And if he's having this much trouble, how long will it be before he breaks? What am I going to do if he does?'_

Worrying thoughts swam around in her head through the rest of the evening, and even when they played more board games after dinner… her mind was so occupied that she lost almost every single one. She lost count of all the times she found herself missing something he'd said and having to ask him to repeat himself.

It was so hard to concentrate on anything other than the crazy contradictory thoughts and emotions running rampant around in her system, making her head pound worse and worse by the hour.

On the one hand, she was frightened. Terrified actually. The thought of what could happen at any moment if Natsu snapped sent her blood running hot and cold throughout her body, until it felt like _**she**_ was the one with a fever. It wasn't so much the act itself she was afraid of – though considering she was a virgin, it certainly wasn't something to sneeze at – but the potential repercussions of it were what really made her want to run and hide.

There was no doubt it would hurt. Probably a lot. She had no misconceptions that he would be able to be particularly gentle or slow about any of it – which was scary in and of itself – but she was more concerned about how Natsu would react afterwards. She knew that he would utterly hate himself for hurting her. Not only that, but he would feel like he had betrayed her trust.

There was no telling just how badly he would respond… but it certainly wouldn't be good.

Ever since he took off for a year without any prior warning, her greatest fear was that one day he would just disappear and this time not come back. If he thought that he'd raped her… there was a distinct possibility that he might do that. He wasn't the kind of person to run away from his problems, but… if he thought he'd done something bad enough that his presence would be traumatizing for her… all bets were off.

Of course that was the worst-case scenario. But even in the best-case scenario, she couldn't see them continuing their friendship the way it was now… at least not without a lot of time and work to fix it. She was mostly worried about his response, but there was every chance she would respond badly too. Having sex for the first time with the person she loved under those circumstances would be rough to say the least. It probably wouldn't be a particularly pleasant experience, but it would still be undeniably intimate, and going back from that to just friends would be difficult. How could she look him in the eye afterwards without remembering what his eyes looked like when….

Aaa_aaaaand_ that was where she cut herself off. No need to complicate matters by imagining the act.

The flip side of her emotional state was much too unstable for her to spend any time contemplating those sorts of things. Just the thought of Natsu having to hold himself back from jumping her was making her ridiculously flustered, and for all the wrong reasons. She preferred to focus on her worry and fear, because it helped to hold back her other reactions – which were less than ideal. It was completely absurd for her to get excited at the idea of Natsu pinning her down and having his way with her when there was so much at stake.

And yet…

This was the first time he'd ever shown any kind of interest in her – or anyone else for that matter – and it was pretty hard to _**not**_ be affected. This entire week so far had seriously tested her resolve. It was only thanks to her worries that she'd been able to mostly keep her mind out of the gutter, but even then… she sometimes found herself staring at him with her heart pounding and her mental faculties spinning out of control.

How could she want something so badly, while simultaneously being utterly terrified of it? Nothing made sense to her anymore. All she knew was that she had to fight her emotions and bear with it a little longer. Her mantra continued to be, '_It's all fake, he doesn't love me, it's just the heat making his body want things his heart doesn't…'_

And then came the depression. This whole thing was going to give her some kind of complex, even if nothing ended up happening.

It was no wonder that she was ready to crash by the time the sun finally set. If it had been just her, she would have gone to bed in a heartbeat and passed out, especially after she took a headache potion that made her drowsy. But with all the worry and fear and tension, she felt compelled to stay up and keep Natsu occupied fairly late into the night… until she hit her absolute limit.

Only when she was practically seeing double, did she finally cave.

"Natsu…I think…I've gotta go to bed…" she said on a sigh, pausing to yawn halfway through.

"Yeah…I guess it is pretty late, huh?"

He chuckled and scrubbed his hair as he glanced at the clock – but though his manner _seemed_ relaxed on the surface, she'd seen how he tensed up at her suggestion and had felt his knee jerk against her own. He was once again sitting with his knee resting on hers to satisfy his need to touch her, while also freeing up his hands for the game.

Even though it was obvious Natsu didn't want to go to bed yet, he didn't complain when she dragged herself – and therefore him – into the bathroom to get ready to sleep. The process had its awkward moments, just like always, but she powered through with the help of absentmindedness brought on by exhaustion.

When she flopped into bed thirty minutes later, she didn't even remember turning off all the lights or locking up, but the room was dark and since Natsu was with her she didn't worry too much about whether she'd remembered to lock the door. She barely had the energy required to pile up pillows between them but forced herself to do it anyways. Even though the barrier probably wouldn't last the night, it still helped her feel a little safer.

"G-night Natsu…" she mumbled sleepily as she settled in under the covers, fully expecting to pass out from fatigue any minute now.

"Night Luce." he rumbled back, sounding just as tired but distinctly less sleepy than her.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_So…really, there was only one option that she could see having a snowball's chance in hell of getting them out of this situation intact. She had to wake him up._

_Naturally, right as she came to this conclusion, things got even more complicated. Natsu's legs shifted until his other knee had wormed between her legs too, and suddenly his hips were wedged against her in a way that was distinctly not good. A mess of panic overwhelmed her, and she acted on instinct, planting her palms firmly against his chest and shoving with all her might._

_"Natsu! Wake up and get off me!" she barked in a tone that was several octaves too high and loud._

_As she shoved, he propped himself up on his palms, staring down at her like he had this morning. But there was one huge difference. As soon as he opened his eyes, Lucy knew she was in deep shit, because she didn't recognize Natsu in those glowing golden orbs._


	8. CH 8: Fan plus Shit equals NOPE (mostly)

**Author's Note:**

Alrighty! It's Sunday! Things have been crazy again, but I remembered to post this time! Yay! Although... I am a little behind in responding to reviews, (sorry guys!) but I'll definitely catch up within the next couple of days, I promise! Also... I got my chapters mixed up in my head when I was responding to some of your reviews for chapter 6 last week, and I was actually thinking of this chapter instead of 7 when I hinted at some big stuff to come. Sorry about that! So basically, any of you guys who got a response about buckling up your seat-belts, this is actually the chapter I was referring to. 😅

As always HUGE thanks to all my WONDERFUL reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to: savwafair, BeautifulSamurai, Karmitara, Anna5949, 19vanelkc, waiting-for-you443, stranger1999, illleashya, aliciacevbra, CodenameMise, fairyblue1132, maria Paula5656, Lkityan, Lucinda, kaystar92, iamanimefreak13, SistershoOK, Xerzo LotCN, Andria Justus Haynie, valerioux, Chibialexz, quidditchChick6, Katnibal94, NaLuAlways26, CrazyZaika, ArtemisMoon, Starstruck-MJ, HotvampGurl23, Leomae2.0, dani-yell10, and Always NaruIno.

Also, in reference to a guest's question about what time zone I'm in, I live in the US central time zone. But yeah, I do tend to post 12 to 2 AM because I'm partially nocturnal and do a lot of my writing at night. So that might make it a little weird for some people. Sorry guys!

Anywho, without further ado, let's get on with it shall we?! Stay tuned till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter, and a post note from me. 😉

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**CONTENT WARNING: There are is some upsetting content coming up *I'm sure you can imagine what kind.* So if that sort of thing isn't something you want to read, you may want to skim or skip this chapter. (I apologize to anyone who read this without the content warning and was disturbed) **

* * *

As she'd predicted, it was mere moments later that she was out like a light. Unfortunately, the stress and tension of the day followed her into her dreams, and her sleep was far from sound.

So she woke up almost instantly, some indefinite amount of time later, when Natsu rolled her onto her back. It took her a moment to figure out what was going on though – thanks to her mind still being a little groggy from semi-sleep – but as soon as she felt someone very heavy and hot crawl on top of her, she snapped to attention and immediately froze.

He settled in, burrowing his face in her neck and squirming till he was absolutely flush against her. One of his legs fell between hers, which placed his groin squarely into the crease of her hip and abdomen, and there was absolutely no ignoring the erection digging into her. It was actually fairly uncomfortable, thanks to him putting so much weight on her.

She found herself holding her breath and scrunching her eyes closed, hoping that he would just go back to sleep. Luck seemed to be on her side, because after a moment he mumbled and then started up that rhythmic purring snore of his, indicating he was out for the count. At that point, she risked slowly letting her breath out on a very quiet relieved sigh.

'_But… now what?'_

She was left with a very heavy hot person squashing her flat, and she was pretty sure his hard-on was going to bruise her hip. At the very least, that discomfort helped her from getting too excited about the situation, though she couldn't help but be a little stimulated by it all. It was mostly mental…. Just like the times before, having Natsu on top of her definitely caused her system to go into overdrive, and all those emotions and urges that she usually suppressed came to the forefront. But she did her very best to focus on the physical discomfort to keep her mind out of the gutter.

The past couple of days had taught her that if she responded physically, this situation would go from bad to worse really fast. He'd barely been able to stop this morning, and she doubted he would be able to again.

That thought helped to cool her jets – because a healthy dose of fear served as a good distraction from her more amorous feelings.

After the wake-up call, her brain scrambled to try and figure out the best way to deal with the situation. Should she just stay still and leave him? Or should she wake him up and ask him to get off? That might be dangerous though, and pushing him off her hadn't worked so well in the past…. Not to mention, there was a good chance that it would only make things worse. Staying still certainly seemed like the best option, but she didn't know how long she could stand him laying on her like this. It was getting a little hard to breathe.

Her frantic thought process was interrupted when Natsu rumbled and his nose nuzzled closer to her neck. Once again, she froze, worry spiking through her.

For a moment she thought maybe that was it, but then his lips pressed down and he started to do that thing where he nuzzled his mouth against her. Kisses peppered her skin, and then eventually his lips parted and he started nipping at her too, as well as licking and sucking. The slightly scratchy, but soft, sensation of his chapped lips combined with sharp teeth and wet tongue made for a dangerous combination, and Lucy found herself hard-pressed to ignore the sensations. Her eyes scrunched closed and her teeth gritted as she did her best to keep herself on track… even though veering into the gutter grew more and more unbearably tempting.

'_Focus on the fear, this isn't a good thing, he's not in control of himself right now, this could go south really quickly, pull yourself together Lucy…'_ she told herself.

It was so, _so, __**so**_ hard to follow her own advice though, and she found herself holding her breath to keep a moan in when he bit down particularly firmly and sucked on an especially sensitive part of her neck. The small teasing licks that followed made her slightly sore skin tingle in an amazing way, and she found herself fighting to try and pretend that it didn't feel good, when it definitely did. It felt so good in fact, that she really wondered how long she could keep this up before either going crazy or giving in.

However, she immediately got pulled out of LaLa land when he stiffened and growled – probably catching wind of her responding to him – and she realized they were entering dangerous territory. She kicked herself, silently saying, '_stupid, stupid, stupid, you knew this would happen_,' to herself and mentally cussing herself out.

His growl was quickly followed by him getting more aggressive, and his teeth suddenly latched onto her neck again, biting down harder than before and not letting go. She stiffened, not sure what to make of the new situation. It was…different to say the least. The feel of his teeth digging into her muscles and tissue hurt, but it also strangely felt good in a weird way.

And that was where she stopped her thought process short – not wanting to let herself go down that particular pipeline at the moment. Now was not really the most appropriate time to determine whether she was into a little pain with her pleasure – or anything else particularly animalistic or kinky.

The bite was also accompanied by a roll of his hips that ground his erection against her in a highly uncomfortably way. She was thankful for the pain though, because otherwise the feel of his body moving on hers like that would have made her produce more of that problematic scent.

By this point, she was at a complete loss. What the hell was she supposed to do?

Her emotions and thoughts were scattered and all over the place, like a bomb had gone off in her head and heart. She was a mess of fear, excitement, confusion, indecisiveness, dread, and anticipation.

Should she stop him? Or should she let him keep going? He didn't show any sign of stopping on his own… and if this continued, she had to assume he would wake up at some point. Was there any hope that he might just snap out of it and go back to passionless sleep? Probably not. Could she lay there and not respond for however long it took him to theoretically work this kink out of his system? Again…probably not. She was already responding despite her best efforts not to. Plus, there was every possibility that he would end up doing a lot more than just this – even if he was asleep.

So…really, there was only one option that she could see having a snowball's chance in hell of getting them out of this situation intact. She had to wake him up.

Naturally, right as she came to this conclusion, things got even more complicated. Natsu's legs shifted until his other knee had wormed between her legs too, and suddenly his hips were wedged against her in a way that was distinctly not good. A mess of panic overwhelmed her, and she acted on instinct, planting her palms firmly against his chest and shoving with all her might.

"Natsu! Wake up and get off me!" she barked in a tone that was several octaves too high and loud.

As she shoved, he propped himself up on his palms, staring down at her like he had this morning. But there was one huge difference. As soon as he opened his eyes, Lucy knew she was in deep shit, because she didn't recognize Natsu in those glowing golden orbs. It was like when Gray had come over…. only a thousand times worse.

She felt pinned to the pillow by that hungry feral gaze and instantly froze, not daring to move a muscle.

After staring at her for a very short time – but one that strangely felt like it lasted forever – he lunged. She abruptly found herself under attack as his mouth latched back onto her neck: licking, kissing, sucking, and biting it with a vigor that was bordering on painful – especially the biting. He'd gotten much rougher, and though a small secret part of her was deeply thrilled by it, mostly she was just scared now.

He'd admitted to her earlier that he didn't want to think about what would happen if he lost control… and right now, she was a hundred percent positive that he had gone completely wild. In fact, she'd bet money on the fact that he wasn't even really aware of what was going on. The Natsu that she knew was still asleep somewhere in there.

When his hands latched onto her shirt and literally ripped it off, she gasped and then yelled, her fingernails digging into his chest as she tried to push him off her. If only she could just wake him up, maybe he'd stop.

Even though part of her just wanted to submit to the experience, the bigger and more logical part of her was adamant that she couldn't let herself get carried away. There had to be a way to stop this and not get swept up by Natsu's inferno. Her biggest fear was still what would happen after and how their friendship would survive… but now that it was actually staring her in the face, the physical aspect of it was quickly beginning to overshadow her other fears.

This particular ride didn't seem to have a 'slow and easy' option that would let her get used to the idea of having sex with Natsu. It was all probably going to happen at once, and she simply wasn't prepared…. the idea of it was too huge for her mind to really wrap around.

There were too many unknowns…. Were they going to end up naked together? Just how intimate and embarrassing was this going to be? How would she respond? What would it be like? She knew it would probably hurt, but would it feel good too? Was she okay with it feeling good, or would she die with embarrassment? Would it cause her more problems later if it felt good?

She was excited and terrified…full of anticipation and rejection…wanting and not wanting…and in the end, she wasn't even sure what was up or down anymore. The confusion and uncertainty were just as terrifying as anything else.

"Natsu! Stop! Wake up! Natsu!" she screamed at him, but he didn't seem to hear.

When his hands landed on her chest, she flinched, not really prepared for that inevitability. Her breasts were fairly sensitive, and she personally liked squeezing and manipulating them when she masturbated, but the way Natsu was going at them was way too rough. He grabbed and squeezed them so hard that it was bordering on painful at times, and his callused palms rasped over her nipples in a way that she knew would have felt fantastic if she was aroused enough for it, but in her current state it was uncomfortably similar to sandpaper. In fact, that was pretty much an appropriate summery of the whole experience. She was pretty sure she would have been into it and enjoyed everything he was doing if she'd been as aroused as he was… but fear put a major damper on her level of excitement.

It was also fairly embarrassing to have Natsu groping her like this, and she flushed so hot that the blush traveled down to where he was fondling. The rush of heat under his mouth must have turned him on, because he growled into her neck and his hips pumped, rubbing his erection against her pubic bone. Again, if she was in the right mind-set, that probably would have really gotten her going – and even under the circumstances she felt a tightening in her belly – but mostly it just reminded her of what she was trying to avoid.

She didn't even realize she'd started crying from the stress and anxiety until her pleas turned a little sloppy.

"Puh-please Natsu…you've gotta stop…this isn't going to be good for us… I don't wuh-wanna lose you…come on…please stop…_please_!"

Again, he didn't seem to really hear her, and just kept attacking her neck and chest. A particularly hard squeeze on her breasts made her whimper and cringe in pain.

Her hands stopped scrabbling at his shoulders and slid down to his wrists. "Ow…Ouch…Natsu…that hurts…"

Based off his previous non-reaction, she was shocked when his grip immediately eased up on her breasts, suggesting that whatever part of Natsu was currently out and about didn't want to hurt her. Maybe he didn't care so much about scaring her, but physical harm was still a no-no. The realization actually made her feel a lot better, even if she wasn't happy about how this was going. She doubted there was anything he could do to make the actual sex part not hurt, but at least he didn't _want_ to hurt her.

A moment later, his hands slid to the sides of her breasts, gripping her ribs instead, and he arched her up as his mouth started going south. She yelped and her hands relocated to his hair to try and yank him back up… but that just seemed to rile him up more, and she figured maybe pulling his hair wasn't a good idea. So she took a different approach and slid her hands down the sides of his face until she could hook her fingertips under his jaw. Then she pulled, which should have tilted his face up… '_should_,' being the key word. Either his strength had increased, or else he'd never used his full strength on her before, because she didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever on his trajectory or the tilt of his head. When that didn't work, she tried to get her fingers between his mouth and her skin, but that just resulted in having her fingers nipped – sometimes fairly hard.

No matter how she tried to dissuade or distract him, his lips, tongue, and teeth landed on her chest and started exploring, much to her embarrassment. Unlike his hands, his mouth definitely felt good, and she found herself squirming and doing her best to either get away or divert him… while simultaneously trying to distract herself. The brief notion that maybe she should just enjoy it snuck into her mind – considering that he probably wasn't going to be stopping, and further activities would be a lot less painful if she was aroused – but she shoved the thought aside.

Either way though, she still found her body reacting as his tongue swiped over her, giving her a fairly thorough tongue bath. The licks were interspersed with his lips nibbling at her or latching on and sucking her skin with brief kisses or longer hickeys – which were usually accompanied by teeth. He also gave her small nips and longer bites, sometimes edging into painful.

It was all still rough and kind of sloppy and aggressive, but it felt shockingly good on her sensitive breasts. However, she jerked and yelped whenever he managed to catch her nipple, and often cringed away from the rough touches on her overly hypersensitive buds – especially if his teeth were involved. She could only handle very light and gentle stimulation on them to start with because they were so very, very sensitive. A very gradual increase in pressure and friction felt good as she got more and more aroused, but he was already at level ten on the stimulation scale while she was still at level one.

It was just a good thing that he didn't target them… if anything, his goal seemed to be to cover as much of her skin as possible with kisses. If he had put all that aggressive attention into her nipples, she probably would have woken the neighbors with her voice.

He didn't stay too long on her breasts, and she wasn't sure if she was disappointed or relieved as the exploration and claiming of her skin started traveling down to her stomach. His hands slid down too and landed on her hips, pinning her down to the mattress to keep her from squirming too much under the slightly ticklish feeling of his lips on her tummy. But she suddenly had a much more pressing concern when his head relocated yet again and he pressed his face down into her groinal region. Once again she yelped and protested, shoving and pushing and kicking to try and dissuade him from whatever he was considering.

Thankfully he just breathed in deeply a few times and then sat up. She had a split second of relief, and then his fingers had fisted the sides of her pajama bottoms and underwear. He yanked them off – literally tearing them down the middle instead of relocating himself from between her legs. All she really had time for were a few squawks and thrashing her legs, but it did absolutely nothing to stall the destruction of her lower garments.

Soon she found herself utterly naked, but she didn't really have time to process that fact because she was very quickly distracted when Natsu followed her pants with his. They were quickly shoved down to his knees, and though the room was relatively dark, enough light came through the curtains for her to dimly see, and her eyes got stuck to his erection.

Before this whole 'going into heat' business, she had done her best to avoid thinking about Natsu's penis. It hadn't ever seemed like a really good idea to let herself fantasize about him like that. She had certainly never thought that she would see it, except maybe accidentally if she walked in on him in the bathroom. So just the sight of it was a massive shock that stunned her practically into a state of strange detachment.

A secondary shock zapped her system when she actually acknowledged what was happening, and her brain blanked out while she tried – and failed – to mentally process the situation. Somewhat numbly, she found herself assessing his equipment simply because she didn't know what else to do… and somewhere deep inside, a part of her was very awake and curious about what he looked like.

Her eyes glanced at the heavy looking testicles underneath and the nest of assumedly-pink pubic hair, but she was much more preoccupied with his erection. Her first impression was that it jutted out from his body in an almost awkwardly aggressive way, like someone pointing their finger into her face to scold her. For some reason, she'd thought that it would be angled up towards his belly button, but it pointed straight out instead – though it did have an upward curve that made it a little more graceful.

Just like when he had ground it against her, she was a little stunned to note that he was definitely well endowed. It was possible that she was simply impressed because it was the first she'd ever seen, but it certainly seemed larger than what she would imagine was average. Whatever the case though, his size was intimidating under the circumstances, since she knew where he wanted to put it and she was very much not ready for it.

This was going to hurt worse than she'd thought.

She really shouldn't have been surprised when he lowered himself, grabbed her hip with one hand and his dick with the other, and took aim for her privates. But it did, and she didn't respond well.

She started struggling and her voice rose in a panicked near-scream. "Stop! Wait just a…don't…I'm not…No!"

Something in either her tone or body language finally got a response from Natsu and he actually stalled out, much to her intense relief and disbelief. She honestly hadn't expected him to listen to her.

Those strange glowing eyes shifted up from where he'd been staring at their groins, and he met her gaze.

"You don't want me?" he asked, his voice deep and rumbling in a way that didn't sound entirely human.

Everything about his expression screamed 'pain' as he said that one little phrase. His eyebrows scrunched up in a confused and hurt sort of way, while his lips pulled into a sad grimace… but it was his eyes that really shook her conviction. They were liquidy with tears, and the expression in them was utterly shattered, as if the thought of her not wanting him was tearing his soul out. She didn't know why he was reacting this way now, when she'd been fighting him from the get-go, but maybe he hadn't taken her seriously before for some reason. Now though, it seemed he'd finally perceived her desire to not do this, and it looked like that realization had shocked and hurt him deeper than she ever could have expected.

She had no idea what he was going through. This whole time, she'd been working under the impression that his being in heat was just going to make him horny, but she never considered that it would affect his emotions as well. Based off his crushed reaction to her rejection though, she suddenly realized that that definitely wasn't the case…. his emotions were VERY involved in this process.

His expression right now was like a kid who had his candy stolen from him… but it was the last piece of candy on earth… and it had been given to him by his grandmother who had died… and he was starving. But worse even than that.

It was heartbreak, pure and simple.

Everything in her shifted on a dime. All her fears rose their ugly heads of course, telling her that this was going to hurt a lot – in a lot of ways, both emotionally and physically. But even with all the reminders parading before her eyes of why she'd been fighting this, her entire perspective had changed. Natsu's pained response made it very clear to her that saying no might very well break something in him – something deep in the animal part of him that was currently driving his body. She had no idea what the repercussions of that might be, but she somehow sensed that it would be very bad… maybe even so bad that he wouldn't be able to return to the Natsu she knew and loved.

But even if that hadn't been a factor, she simply couldn't stand the agony on his face and couldn't stand the thought of causing him such distress. And…something deep inside her heart just wouldn't let her lie to him. The truth was, she did want him… more than he would ever know.

"…of course I want you. Idiot…I love you." she finally whispered, unable to lie and figuring that he wouldn't remember any of this anyways so it didn't matter.

Of course she knew the repercussions of saying that. She might not have given him the green light specifically, but he'd undoubtedly take that as permission to continue. There would be no stopping him now… but she found herself unable to regret that decision when his eyes lit up with joy and relief so deep she could practically taste it. No matter the consequences, something told her that she'd made the right decision.

When he laid his body over hers and started kissing and licking her neck and face in a way that was strangely sweet and almost thankful, she sighed and accepted it this time, not trying to fight it anymore. This was going to happen, and she might as well make it easier on them both by not fussing.

Her mind and emotions struggled, part of her wanting to surrender to the experience fully and let her emotions run wild – thinking that if she was only going to experience this once, she should get the most out of it. Meanwhile, the other part of her desperately warned that she should maintain some kind of emotional distance.

Her conflicted feelings on the matter made it even more difficult for her to think, and eventually it all melted into a big puddle of confusion, fear, worry, love, desire, sadness, and a weird desperation. It drove her to cling to him for some kind of anchor in the lake of not knowing what to do. Tears wetted her cheeks and the pillow under her head as she struggled with herself, but she barely even noticed them because her eyes were clenched tight.

The emotional turmoil took a backburner though when she felt Natsu shift and his demeanor changed. Lust took him over again, and he growled as his teeth latched onto her shoulder and his hips wedged in between her legs. She tensed as she felt him push against her, prodding around until he found a spot that gave under the pressure.

At that point, she suddenly wished she'd allowed herself to enjoy his ministrations earlier, because there was a distinct lack of proper moisture that she very clearly sensed as he tried to press in. His skin dragged over hers, catching the small amount of slipperiness that had been produced, but it quickly dried to a tacky stickiness that seemed to hinder rather than assist. Her folds clung and stuck, closing up and blocking him rather than parting, and when he pressed more aggressively they pinched and pulled in a painful way.

He snarled again and rocked against her in a manner that painfully tugged on everything, and Lucy winced, shifting her hips to try and relieve the sensation. The friction was unpleasant and gave her a taste of what was to come, but her brain was so muddled she couldn't even try to think of a solution to the problem.

Eventually, he managed to work his way between her inner lips, and then he was pressing against her entrance. There was still plenty of resistance though. Not being very aroused meant that not only did she lack lubrication, but she was also tighter than she should have been. Add in a certain amount of tension and clenching from her current stress level, and they were dealing with a vice grip. No matter how she tried to relax, it just wasn't happening.

It didn't take long for him to grow frustrated with the lack of progress, and in a single blinding moment he shoved in. A sudden sharp sensation that was between a tear, a grinding rasp, and a pop took her breath, but somehow – even without air – she managed to make a loud pained sound between a gasp, a sob, and a yell. Her whole body balled up and she clenched her fingers in his shoulder blades as she buried her face in his chest.

She was so wrapped up in her own pain, that for a long moment she didn't notice how Natsu had completely frozen up on top of her. Eventually though, she picked up on the fact that he wasn't moving and seemed tense in a completely different way from before. When he started pulling away from her grip, she let him go, and soon he was propped up on his hands staring down at her again.

Through somewhat blurry eyes, she could immediately tell that he'd snapped out of whatever weird state he had been in. His very wide and horrified eyes were back to the usual black, and she could see the normal Natsu in them once again. Those wide eyes darted all over her face, then her chest and neck – which were probably peppered with bite marks and bruises – and finally dashed down to where they were connected. Then they snapped back to her face, if possible even wider and more horrified than before.

"Sh-shit…Luce…what have I done?"

She would have attempted to comfort him, but she was still a bit preoccupied by the pain and trying to hide it from him so he wouldn't feel too badly about it. Before she could compose herself enough to try and answer him, he was already cracking and started to ramble.

"Oh fuck…Mavis…I can't believe I…Luce…oh god…sorry…I'm so sorry…I never…I'd never…I can't…"

As words spilled from his lips, his eyes filled with tears that started dripping onto her, and her heart clenched in sympathy. She had really hoped he wouldn't wake up until after he was done… and had even dared to hope that maybe he wouldn't even remember it happening. No such luck apparently.

She would have reached for him, and even started to, but then he slowly pulled out and her hands ended up clenched in the sheets to try and keep herself still through the painful sensation. He nearly got all the way out, but then his eyes flickered gold and his whole body tensed up and froze, locked in some kind of silent battle. Gold and black flashed back and forth, but eventually gold won out and he sunk back in with a full-body shudder as he tried to stop himself.

The friction was a tiny bit less – probably because she was bleeding – but it still hurt like hell, and she had a devil of a time keeping herself from crying out. When he was fully seated again, a ragged gasp escaped him, and his following breaths were equally uneven and mixed with sobs. More than one violent tremor ran through him as he clenched his eyes shut, obviously doing absolutely everything he could to pull out.… but it was equally apparent that he was completely incapable of it.

"S-sorry…I…I can't…my body won't…it won't listen to me…I'm sorry…so sorry…"

Wrangling her own pained reactions down wasn't an easy feat, but she somehow managed to push the physical discomfort away just enough that she could lean up and grab him. The change in position made her wince, but she still wrapped her arms around him and dragged him down on top of her. She clutched him with both arms and legs, trying to convey her love through the embrace.

He instantly buried his head in her shoulder, hiding his face probably from shame, and she could feel his chest shaking against hers with sobs. Trembles wracked his frame…. which didn't feel too good where it jostled his situation inside her, but she was more concerned about the emotional agony it indicated in him.

She gently reached one hand up to his head and smoothed his hair, trying to soothe him. "It's okay…really. It's not your fault. We were playing with fire, and we got burned. But it's not your fault…don't beat yourself up over it."

She didn't waste time contemplating the slight irony and oddness of her trying to comfort him in this situation. He was hurting, she was hurting, they were both in a situation they'd wanted to avoid, and she absolutely did not blame him for it. She wasn't upset with him in the least, and she hated that he was obviously suffering over it.

He shivered as she talked, and his arms curled under her back to hug her tightly as he burrowed his head further into the crook of her neck. Despite her words, he kept mumbling apologies into her skin, on loop as if he couldn't even think anything aside from, "I'm sorry."

For a long while he managed to keep himself still, just shivering over her and babbling apologies into her neck. It was at that point when she was suddenly smacked upside the head with the realization that this was really happening. Natsu was really inside her… something she had never, ever thought would occur… and it was more than a little overwhelming to acknowledge that it actually had.

It was kind of amazing, even kind of beautiful in a weird way… despite the pain and fear. She found herself clutching him close and closing her eyes, wishing that this wasn't a one-time thing… and of course wishing that it wasn't happening like this. If only Natsu shared her feelings for him, and he was making love to her because he wanted to… even if it had hurt, she would have fully accepted it like that.

A bittersweet mixture of elation and sadness slowly rose up inside her, causing tears of a different sort to make tracks down her face. If only for this brief moment, it felt as if she was gaining her most precious desire, even though she knew it was ultimately a lie. She was finally holding her dream, and clutched it tightly despite the fact that it would shatter into a million pieces and cut them both to ribbons in the process.

As the storm of her emotions slowly spiraled into an ever-tighter funnel, Natsu seemed to reach his limit on how long he could stay still, and his hips twitched, as if against his will. He froze again, but the motion repeated a few second later. A small sound came from him, something that was a mixture of a groan, whimper, growl, and sigh. It was sad, defeated, and shamed… but also had a hint of unwanted pleasure buried underneath.

"It's okay if you have to move…I understand." Lucy whispered to him, knowing that he was struggling not to.

He shuddered again, and then mumbled, "I…I'm…sorry Luce…sorry…"

More apologies tumbled from him as he very slowly began to move, his hips starting up a slow push and pull that she figured was as gentle as he could possibly manage. It still hurt, and she focused on her breathing, trying to use it to distract herself and also trying to keep it steady. She did her very best to keep her cringing to a minimum, not wanting to make Natsu feel even worse, but a few shivers got by her control. Her legs clenched around him and her hands clung to his back, holding on for dear life as she breathed through the pain. It wasn't too terrible, but with each thrust it got a little worse as the friction rubbed her raw.

In a way though, the discomfort gave her something very easy to focus on other than the reality of what was happening. But that sliver of emotional distance melted when Natsu saw right through her attempts to hide the pain and started peppering her face with small kisses and more mumbled apologies. Her heart melted despite her best intentions, and she found herself spinning right back down the drain of emotions she'd tried to drag herself out from.

When she risked a peek up at him as he pulled back from another batch of kisses, she immediately realized that maybe it wasn't a good idea, because the image of his face hovering over hers filled with worry, sadness, guilt, tenderness, and passion was something she doubted she'd forget anytime soon.

That sight sent her back into clutching him close so she could hide her face in his throat – much like he'd done earlier. He reciprocated by burying his face in her shoulder, and they clung to each other to weather the storm together.

Eventually, his slow rhythm started to stutter and his breathing grew more and more labored. The next time she chanced a glance at his face, it was scrunched up with concentration that looked nearly painful, and his eyes were flickering back and forth again between gold and black. He was fighting with himself to keep from losing it again – which would probably involve ramming into her like a piston – but quite frankly it looked like a losing battle.

She braced herself, knowing it was only a matter of time before things got a lot more unpleasant. Natsu was doing his best, but if tonight had taught her anything, it was that dragon instincts could apparently be stronger than human willpower.

When he finally did snap, she happened to be watching and saw as his expression completely morphed. All the guilt washed away… to be replaced by lust, passion, desire, and pleasure… and she felt a zing of fear as well as unwitting arousal zip through her. It wasn't really enough to do anything, and the pain was too great for the arousal to go very far, but she had to admit that his expression was hot as hell. Now she had yet another image of Natsu's face that would probably haunt her dreams forever.

She had about a second to entertain those kinds of thought before he wiped all mental capacity from her brain by picking up his pace until he was slamming into her. All she could really do was clench her eyes shut, cry silently, grip his back, and try to breath in through her nose and out through her mouth in short hard puffs that took just the edge off of the pain.

She found herself praying that it wouldn't last too long, and thankfully it didn't. She only had to endure a few minutes of rough pounding before he stiffened up, growled, and finished inside her. If this had been a normal situation, she would have wanted to be able to feel it… but after what she'd just gone through, she was much too sore to feel much of anything down there besides pain.

After a long moment of shivering tension throughout his whole body, he dropped down on top of her, wrapping his arms underneath her in a tight hug and burying his nose once again into her neck. He nuzzled at her, apparently satiated for now, and it almost seemed like he might fall asleep… especially when she heard that deep thrumming snore of his.

It was surprisingly peaceful, despite the fact that he was still inside her and her lower body hurt like a bitch. Even with the pain, Lucy wished this moment could last… that the glass dream wouldn't shatter and she could just stay here like this with him.

However, a few minutes later he stiffened. "Fuck…I lost it again. Damn it…I'm so sorry Luce…you okay?"

"Yeah…I'll be fine."

He slowly started to ease out of her, and despite her best efforts she winced at the painful drag over raw nerves.

"Sorry…"

"It's okay…I'm just a little sore…" she managed to croak, and then sighed as he finally pulled out completely.

She felt a warm trickle, and based off his expression she suspected it was probably blood. For a moment he stared down at her and him, looking horrified and sick, and then he clamped his eyes shut and practically threw himself off her. He yanked his pants up in the process of stumbling off the bed – nearly falling over at one point because of it – and then he stood in the middle of the room facing away from her with his shoulders high and tense.

She followed suit, though much slower, and winced as she eased off the bed. It hurt to move, but she wanted to clean up and put on some fresh clothes. As she walked towards the bathroom and snagged some fresh pajamas on the way, she muttered, "I'm just gonna go…clean up."

Natsu didn't respond aside from a jerky nod.

Once inside the bathroom, she turned on the light and assessed the damage. There was more blood than she was expecting, but it wasn't so much that she was seriously worried. After a little consideration, she decided to draw herself a shallow bath to try and wash the area without having to rub it with a washcloth, which would hurt. She did so numbly, still in shock about the whole thing. Even as she gently cleaned herself with a little bit of soap and then rinsed with the bathwater, she couldn't really believe it had happened and stared at the little trickle of pink in the water as though she didn't know what it was.

After cleaning to the best of her ability, she dried off by patting herself as gently as possible, and then dressed and exited the bathroom. She didn't have a clue what she'd say to Natsu, or what would happen now, but maybe they could just pretend the whole thing hadn't happened. It was a fluke, just a side-effect of him going into heat. They could just dismiss it as an accident and let it go.

However, when she came back into the room, Natsu was gone.

* * *

**Post Note:**

Ack! Sorry guys, I actually had previously written this, but apparently didn't save it, so I'm updating it now.

Anywho, so sorry about that cliffy. I know I'm a little evil. But never fear! There is light at the end of the tunnel, this isn't the end. (it's also not the lemon I've promised, so don't worry)

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_However, as they grew nearer, Lucy started to become increasingly nervous… worried about what she would find._

_Was Natsu still in the throws of being in heat? Was he hurt? How would he react to her showing up? Would he be angry? Would he pounce on her? Questions shot through her head at the speed of lightning and quickly gave her a pounding headache._

_So, she was both excited and scared as they crested the last bunch of trees and finally came to a clearing that was crisscrossed with burns, scorch marks, upturned trees, and rocks… and one very limp fire dragon slayer._

_"Natsu!" Lucy and Happy cried out nearly simultaneously, and the blue cat made a beeline right for him._


	9. CH 9: Ouchies and AWOL Dragon Slayers

**Author's Note:**

Hello all! It's Sunday! And you know what that means... it's time for a new chapter!

As always, a HUGE thanks to all my WONDERFUL reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to jules828, savwafair, Andria Justus Haynie, Chibi-Lazy14, suzaanoelofse01, BearPlusCat, Xerzo LotCN, Karmitara, Starstruck-MJ, stranger1999, illleashya, aliciacevbra, valerioux, CodenameMise, Pink Onigiri, OhtaSuzuke, Bugseey, waiting-for-you443, SistershoOK, YukiMC, Anna5949, FireShifter, iamanimefreak13, Writer's Obsession, quidditchChick6, ABT4Life, loopymama, mapara, Leamae2.0, BeautifulSamurai, G, NaLuAlways26, darealduna, nukosasame, CrazyZaika, Katnibal94, GothBanshee, PandoraJ, NebelTeddyBear, Bruna-nalu, , and Mishy1824.

You guys are all amazing. :D

Also, thank you everyone who let me know that there wasn't a preview at the end of the chapter. As soon as I got all your reviews letting me know it wasn't there, I fixed it ASAP.

Now, next on the list of questions and such to be addressed, there have been a lot of people asking why they won't just tell each other how they feel. I understand the frustration and confusion, so let me give you the rundown, and hopefully that'll help explain what's going on and why they're keeping their traps shut.

Firstly, Lucy is absolutely positive that Natsu doesn't have feelings for her, because he's never shown any interest. Nada. Zip. Zilch. If you'll remember, she's said she even flirted with him for a while, and got nothing. We're talking _**years**_ here. As for why she still thinks he doesn't love her after he chose her as his mate... yes, she did hear him when he said he only chooses one mate, but she thinks that it's a simple matter of choosing one mate for one season_, _you know, like a bug or something. She doesn't think it has anything to do with love - so much as just instinct. Besides that, even if he had told her he loved her, she probably would have just thought it was another side effect of being in heat. Again, it's been _**years**_, why would she believe his feelings have suddenly changed? It makes no sense. So why would she tell him she loves him, when she knows all that will get her is a rejection and/or awkwardness in their friendship?

Now on the other hand, Natsu thinks that Lucy knows he loves her. So why would he tell her if she already knows and obviously doesn't feel the same? Because as far as he can tell, she keeps rejecting his advances. And when does Natsu ever stop and talk about feelings really? He always moves forward, and he doesn't dwell on the pain of being rejected. He's focusing on someday winning Lucy over. Just like with his dad... he focused on the fact that he'd find him again. But did he stop and talk about how losing his dad made him sad? No. So until he somehow finds out that Lucy really doesn't know that he loves her, or that she actually loves him, he's probably not going to say anything.

Alrighty! I hope that cleared everything up, and now it won't be so confusing. :D

Now on with the show! And stay tuned for a sneak peek of next chapter, I promise I'll actually put one up this time. XD

* * *

The next morning, Lucy woke to a vicious pounding in her head and on the door. It took a moment to distinguish between the two, and she groaned, unsure at first why her head hurt so much. When she shifted and sat up, aiming to go figure out who was making such a ridiculous amount of noise, pain stabbed her between the legs and she froze, wincing. She experienced a split second of confusion, and then everything from last night rushed back to her.

Natsu had disappeared by the time she got out of the bathroom.

Out of everything that had happened last night, his vanishing scared her the most. She was terrified that she'd never see him again. The last time he'd taken off like that, she hadn't seen him for a whole year, and she still had nightmares that he would just up and leave again. It had freaked her out so much that she had run down the hall and out of her apartment building entirely, despite the pain of every step. In the street she had yelled his name at the top of her lungs, hoping like hell he wasn't so far away that his sensitive ears couldn't hear her.

"Natsu! Where did you go?!"

She'd wandered a little, calling him, but it was the dead of night and nothing answered her but the wind. Eventually she had collapsed, sitting on the sidewalk and crumpling up with her head in her hands.

"Don't…don't leave me again…"

Eventually she had given up and gone home, where she curled up in bed and cried herself to sleep. That explained the pounding headache that threatened to hammer the eyeballs right out of her head. And now that the memories of last night had returned, tears threatened again and she knew her headache would only be getting worse.

The last thing she wanted to do now was answer the door, and she was already dragging the blanket over her head in preparation of ignoring whoever was there. But then a voice caught her attention.

"Open this door right now! I don't have all day!"

It was Porlyusica, which boggled her mind. How the hell did she know that Lucy was hurt?

The answer hit her like a lightning bolt, and she was out of bed and across the room before the pain could even register.

"Did Natsu send you?!" she yelped as she yanked the door open to expose the cranky pink-haired healer on the other side.

"Yes. Obviously."

Porlyusica didn't even ask if she could come in, she simply waltzed through the door and made herself at home. Lucy quickly closed the door behind her and followed, now limping as the pain caught up to her.

"Do you know where he is now?! Did he say where he was going or why?!"

"No, but he told me what happened. Are you still bleeding?"

The question caught her off guard. "Uh…I don't know."

"Well, let's take a look at the damage, and then I'll figure out what to give you."

"What, um…I don't…"

The healer ignored her and grabbed a kitchen chair, dragging it across the room and setting it down next to the bed. She sat and then pointed at the space on the bed directly in front of her.

"Sit there."

Lucy gingerly followed the healer's instructions and sat on the edge of the bed.

"First I need to check if you're pregnant." the healer told her, and Lucy paled, not having thought of that.

The older woman had her lay back, and then she waved her hand over Lucy's abdomen and a magic circle appeared over her. It flashed a few times and then turned white.

"Good. You aren't pregnant."

Lucy breathed a deep sigh of relief, going limp for a moment.

The brief panic had been so intense that she felt numb for a moment... and that numbness made it easy for the healer to start the next part of the exam without Lucy fighting it. Before she knew what was going on, her pants had mysteriously disappeared, and the blanket had been flipped over her hips to give her some modesty. Then Porlyusica brought out a viciously bright light from nowhere and peered under the blanket, parting Lucy's thighs just enough to see what was going on.

Lucy turned into a blushing, flustered idiot and sputtered a few protests as the healer eyeballed the situation. Then the pinkette poked and prodded, and finished with some kind of spell that felt like it had gone inside her and spread her open. That hurt and Lucy squeaked, clenching the blanket in her fists. Thankfully it was gone a few moments later, and Porlyusica was closing her legs. She dragged the blanket down all the way and put her light away.

It all happened and was over so quickly that Lucy didn't have the time to really protest or even properly process what was going on.

"I'm sorry. I know the speculum spell must have hurt."

Lucy was so amazed by the apology, that – despite the state of shock she'd been left in post-examination – she managed to struggle into a sitting position so she could look at the stoic older woman. She was pretty sure she'd never heard Porlyusica apologize to anyone before. When their eyes met, the other's gaze was a little softer than usual. Sympathetic.

"He did a number on you I'm afraid. You have some tears, and you're completely raw."

She turned and grabbed her bag, then stood and headed towards the kitchen. As she left, she called back, "I'll make you a tincture to heal it. You can get dressed while I do so."

Still a little stunned by the speed at which everything had just happened, Lucy dragged her pajama bottoms back on, and then limped into the kitchen. Porlyusica had already set up a small lab, and had a potion bubbling away on a tiny burner. Within just twenty minutes, it was done and she'd bottled it.

Handing Lucy the flask and a syringe, she instructed, "Insert a full syringe of this tincture into your vagina three times a day until the pain stops. It should take one to two days to heal. Don't walk around much until then or it will take longer."

"Okay…thank you so much."

She nodded briskly, and then packed up her lab and headed for the door. Before she left, Lucy asked again, "And you're sure Natsu didn't say anything about where he was going?"

"All he said was that he needed to put as much space between you two as possible." She turned and gave Lucy a stern eye. "Do not go after him. Until he's no longer in heat, he's a risk you cannot afford right now. Especially if you aren't fully healed. Any more of what I saw today, and you could be dealing with much worse injuries, which might result in painful scar tissue or any other number of situations that will be much more difficult to resolve than this was."

"Oh…I see."

"Good."

And with another hairy eyeball, the strict healer had left.

…

Meanwhile, Natsu was still running in the opposite direction of Magnolia. He'd been running all night and all morning to put as much space between him and Lucy as possible so that if he lost it and turned back, hopefully he would have enough time to get control of himself again before he reached her. Running also happened to be a great way to distract himself from the pain of being away from her.

Everything in him screamed, '_What the fuck are you doing?! Turn around!' _and it was insanely hard to ignore. Normally he followed his gut before trying to use his brain, and his instincts had never been wrong before…. but this time they were definitely a hundred percent wrong. He'd listened to them to begin with and look what that had got him.

He'd raped Lucy.

That thought kept repeating over and over in his mind, and it was the only thing that kept him moving when his blood felt like it was fricken' boiling inside him. If he didn't have that sentence on loop, his mind would have been full of nothing but her scent and the need to touch her again. Whenever he got too tired, it started to happen anyways, and he began to fantasize about touching her, tasting her, holding her, being inside her…but that last thought always snapped him out of it.

In this damned hazy feverish state, he kept moving in the one direction that would protect Lucy…away from her. He lost all track of time and even where the hell he was. The only thing that told him which way to keep going was the scent of the air and his own scent behind him. At some point, his stomach started to growl and cramp up with increasing frequency, and his throat and mouth got so dry that he began to feel like he'd eaten cotton.

He got so unbearably thirsty that when he happened to catch wind of a river, he immediately made a beeline for it. Gorging himself on the water as soon as he reached it helped fill his belly some as well, though he made sure to boil it in his mouth first before swallowing. He'd made the mistake of not doing that once before and had spent the next two days vomiting and shitting his guts out all over the place…. and that was the _**last**_ thing he needed right now. He was miserable enough as it was.

After filling up on river water, he collapsed on the bank for a while, for once actually exhausted. By that point he'd been so tired he was walking instead of running… and a lot of the time he was tripping instead of walking. He didn't even notice the sun rise or set anymore, he just kind of noticed that sometimes it was lighter and easier to see than other times. So he had no idea how long he'd been out here.

When his eyelids dropped and he felt himself drowsing, he shot upright, terrified. The next second he was back on his feet and had resumed his trek away from Lucy. Falling asleep was not an option, because he'd fully proved that his body took over when his brain clocked out.

Despite his fears though, only a little while later he tripped over a stupid rock halfway through a clearing and ended up back on the ground. He groaned and rolled over, staring up at the dark sky and seeing but not really registering the stars above him. That was seconds before his eyes shut and he'd conked out.

He instantly got swept up into dreams full of Lucy…her scent, the way she felt against him, how damn soft her skin was, the way she tasted a little salty and a little sweet. The dream was interrupted periodically by weird pains that shot through his face, hands, and knees especially. A particularly bad smack right in the kisser finally woke him up, and he blinked in surprise to find himself nose-to-bark with a large tree.

"What the fuck?..." he grumbled and stepped back from the thing, wondering how the hell he ended up in this position.

It took him a long time to figure out, but when he did his eyes widened with horror.

"Oh shit! I was sleep walking back towards Lucy?!"

The scent of himself, faded from time, told him that he'd apparently used it to backtrack while he was out of it, which was damn terrifying.

"Shit, shit, shit!" he yelped and spun around, now following his fresher scent to lead himself back away from Magnolia.

When he eventually made it back to the clearing where he'd fallen asleep, he glared at the stupid rock that had tripped him in the first place as he passed it up. For good measure, he tossed a fireball at the damn thing, and it exploded into a bunch of shards, leaving a blackened burn mark on the ground.

"That'll teach you to trip people who're tryin' ta do the right thing…"

His next victim was another tree that he smashed his face into – after falling asleep on his feet again. Same as last time, he freaked as soon as he realized he'd looped around and started heading back towards Magnolia, and the tree paid the price. It was blown into so many pieces it didn't even have a chance to start a forest fire.

More hours passed, one right after the other, and he didn't even notice. All he knew was pain – a deep pit of burning agony in his belly that said he had to go to Lucy. For the very first time, heat did not feel good to him. His skin burned so badly that he was shocked it didn't start peeling off or bleeding.

Whenever he was facing away from Lucy, that pain got much worse… but at least it helped him to stay awake, and eventually it was the only way he could tell which way to go. That was after he'd given up on trying to walk in a straight line and had started just wandering in circles – since he was going in and out of consciousness so much. Whenever he came to, he forced himself to endure the pain of walking away from her, but of course whenever he passed out he flipped around and started running back towards her. '_Running_' wasn't really the right word for it though, because he tripped so much he spent more time on the ground than upright… which usually woke him up pretty quick.

Soon, his world consisted of agonizing consciousness… and unconsciousness broken by falling and running into shit. He tripped and fell plenty while he was awake too though, and a lot of the time that was when he switched from awake to asleep. As soon as he hit the ground he passed out, only to wake up on the ground in a different place with a fresh sore spot somewhere on his body. Not that he could really feel it. So much pain throbbed through him and so much of it was the damn heat, that he could barely even feel the bruises and scrapes he was collecting. He'd even picked shards of rock or pieces of twig out of his feet, but only after walking who-knows-how-long before even noticing the additional pain. Sucks that he'd forgotten to put on shoes…or a shirt for that matter. The only piece of clothing he had on were his pants.

Very rarely did anything pierce his fog of self-loathing and pain. Occasionally a particularly bad fall would shoot extra agony through him, but even then he didn't really bother to check on any resulting injury. He didn't give a crap really…. The heat completely overshadowed even those moments of pain.

But that was still just physical… even worse was the pain in his heart. The same thought ran through his mind over and over, constantly reminding him of why he was out here.

He had hurt Lucy. He'd raped her. Betrayed her. Broken every promise he'd ever made to her.

"I'm so sorry Luce…" he whispered for the millionth time, his dry throat cracking on a sob without any tears. He'd run out of those a while ago and now his face was crusted with salt as well as dirt and blood.

…

Meanwhile, back in Magnolia, Lucy was just using up the last of her tincture and then lay back in bed, sighing up towards her ceiling. There was no longer any pain in her pelvic region, so now she could walk around normally – which meant that, as soon as this last bit of potion soaked in, she planned on letting Wendy and Happy know that she was ready to go hunt down Natsu.

The day Porlyusica had given her the potion, she'd called Wendy and had given her a very censored version of what had happened… simply ending with 'Natsu had run away and she was really worried about him.' She knew a dragon slayer's nose would be a huge help in tracking him down, and Wendy was the only one she felt comfortable asking for help. There was no way she would ever involve Gajeel or Laxus in this little misadventure.

Of course Wendy had immediately offered to help heal her, but Lucy had been too embarrassed to accept and had declined with the excuse that Porlyusica had already treated her. If she'd accepted Wendy's help, she would have had to tell her _where_ she needed to be healed. For some reason, she was desperate to hide it. Maybe it was because she was worried about how everyone would react if they found out…. whether they would blame Natsu… or maybe her for being naïve and weak…

It was stupid and she knew it, but she also hoped that they could more easily pretend it hadn't happened if nobody knew about it.

She had struggled with that decision for the past two days, wondering if she should have just asked for Wendy's help so she could get out there and look for Natsu faster… but Porlyusica's warning rang in her head. Maybe it was good to give him a little space and time before hunting him down. Then, hopefully, when she did find him he wouldn't be suffering under the heat anymore.

Of course, Happy had been hanging out at Wendy's place to spend time with Carla, so he'd overheard their conversation and had gotten a head start trying to locate Natsu from the air. Unfortunately, since they had no idea what direction he'd gone in, Happy hadn't had any luck so far. He had started at the last place Natsu was seen – Porlyusica's – but from there it had been a fruitless guessing game.

Lucy could only hope that they'd have better luck with Wendy's sensitive dragon slayer nose leading the way.

After about an hour of waiting around on her back for the last of the tincture to absorb, she ran out of patience and gingerly sat up, waiting to see if she felt any telltale trickle that would let her know she'd sat up too soon. When nothing happened, she slowly stood and waited for another minute. A tiny bit of extra warmth told her that a little had slid out, but she figured it was safe to move around when that was all that happened.

So, she quickly got dressed in hiking clothes, packed a bag, and gave Wendy a lacrima call. The sky mage immediately picked up and answered with, "Oh, hello Lucy! Are you feeling better?" In the background she could hear Happy immediately begging for details.

"Yep, I'm finally ready to go dragon slayer hunting! Is this an okay time for you?"

"Of course!" Wendy exclaimed, sounding relieved and happy.

"Great. Where do you want to meet?"

"I'll come to you, since that's where the trail starts. We can head to Porlyusica's from there together."

Lucy smiled, her heart warm and melty from having such a good friend. "Sounds good. I'll see you in a bit."

As soon as they hung up, she did a last pitstop in the restroom, and then headed down to wait in front of her apartment building. A few minutes later, Wendy and Carla came flying over, closely followed by Happy.

Lucy immediately waved at them in greeting and trotted over to meet them as they landed. "Hey guys. Thanks again for helping me out."

"No problem!" Wendy exclaimed, looking a little shocked that Lucy would even consider another possibility. Carla sniffed aristocratically and added, "Of course! It's our duty to look after our friends and fellow guildmembers."

Naturally, Happy was the most antsy to head out. "Aye Sir! Let's get going and find Natsu! I'm worried about him!"

"Yeah, me too, Happy. Me too." Lucy sighed, looking in the direction of Porlyusica's hut.

Without wasting any more time on talking, Happy picked her up and they all set off towards the healer's house at top speed. When they landed, Wendy immediately sniffed around to try and locate his scent. It took a moment, because, as Wendy put it, "Porlyusica's house is full of so many smells it's really hard to pick up on anything else."

But eventually she did catch a faint whiff of Natsu's scent and they set off in that direction.

…

Several hours later found them taking a break for a small snack as they tried to figure out how to speed things up. They had made relatively decent progress so far, thanks to the Exceeds perching on their shoulders and flying them along through the trees whenever there was enough space to do so. They'd been hampered by the fact that they had to stay pretty close to the ground for Wendy to track Natsu, since his trail was so old and weak.

"Has his scent gotten any stronger?" Lucy asked the sky dragon slayer as she munched on her granola bar.

Wendy bobbed her head from side to side. "A little, but not enough for me to pick up above the trees."

"There must be a faster and more efficient method than the one we're currently laboring under." Carla said thoughtfully, and they all nodded in agreement.

"Especially now that the trees are growing thicker. I don't think we'll be able to keep up our current approach for much longer." Lucy added.

"Isn't he going in a straight line? Why don't we just keep going in that direction above the trees?" Happy suggested.

"That's true Tomcat. He _is_ keeping to a consistent heading…"

"But if I lose his scent, it might be hard to find it again without a lot of backtracking." Wendy protested, her eyebrows scrunched with worry.

"Wait, I have an idea. I think Happy's plan might work, but he and I could stay on the scent trail while you and Carla fly ahead. Every couple of minutes you could dip down to make sure you're still on the scent trail, and we could come up and hold that spot when you give us the all clear. Then, if you ever do lose his scent, you can just fly back to us and catch the trail again."

"That might work! It's worth a shot anyways!"

And so, with their new plan in mind, they finished up their break quickly and then took to the skies. Lucy and Happy stayed hovering over the spot they emerged from, while Carla and Wendy shot forwards in the direction they'd been going all day. After a minute or two, before they were out of sight, they dove back down through the leafy canopy. When they emerged again, the white cat and dragon slayer performed a loop-de-loop in the air – which was the agreed upon signal that they still had the scent trail – and Lucy and Happy immediately flew forwards to join them over that spot.

Before they caught up, Wendy and Carla had set off again, and Lucy and Happy halted in the approximate place they'd been.

Using this new method, they made much better time, and after only a couple more hours Wendy started being able to pick up faint traces of Natsu's scent even above the tree canopy. That sped things up significantly, since they no longer had to wait for Lucy and Happy to catch up to them every few minutes… and for a while, they made excellent progress.

However, then they hit another snag. Right as the sun was setting, Wendy pulled up short and frowned down through the trees with consternation.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked, immediately concerned.

"Well…Natsu's trail is…it's weird. It's kind of all over the place now. There are more recent versions of his scent, and older versions of his scent all jumbled together, and it's not in a straight line anymore. It's branching off in all directions."

"Maybe he got lost and is wandering around in circles now?"

"Maybe…" Wendy sounded as doubtful as Lucy felt.

Natsu never really got lost, because he could always track his own scent back to where he'd been. He always knew which way he'd come from, and that was the biggest issue when it came to getting turned around in a forest. Although, if he was compromised somehow… say, he was injured, or feverish, or befuddled for some other reason… he could have crisscrossed his scent so many times that he lost his way. But he'd have to be in a really altered state for that to happen – a fact they all knew very well and that now caused a great deal of concern.

"I guess just follow whatever smells the freshest?" Lucy suggested.

"Yeah, that's really hard to tell, but I'll try."

The sky dragon slayer then proceeded to fly around in circles, sniffing the air to try and find the most recent trail. Eventually she pointed in a direction. "I think maybe it's this one?"

"Let's give it a try!"

And so, they flew off in the new direction. However, soon, they reached a dead end and Wendy called Carla to a stop once again. "Shoot, the trail ends here. He must have turned around and backtracked."

"Darn it." Happy grumbled, glaring down at the trees under them like it was their fault.

"It'll be okay Happy. We'll find him." Lucy soothed as they turned around. "There's plenty of other paths to try."

"Aye Sir." he muttered glumly, and they followed Wendy back to where they'd split off on a new path.

Over the next couple of hours, Lucy's prediction turned out to be true. They did indeed try plenty of other paths and made very slow progress. But slow though it was, they did gradually begin to close in on Natsu's location.

However, as they grew nearer, Lucy started to become increasingly nervous… worried about what she would find.

Was Natsu still in the throws of being in heat? Was he hurt? How would he react to her showing up? Would he be angry? Would he pounce on her? Questions shot through her head at the speed of lightning and quickly gave her a pounding headache.

So, she was both excited and scared as they crested the last bunch of trees and finally came to a clearing that was crisscrossed with burns, scorch marks, upturned trees, and rocks… and one very limp fire dragon slayer.

"Natsu!" Lucy and Happy cried out nearly simultaneously, and the blue cat made a beeline right for him.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_As soon as he realized that it was all finally over and he didn't have to be afraid of his own body doing something horrible to Lucy without his permission, a wave of relief nearly turned him into a soggy pile of goo. But quickly following that was all the guilt from what had happened, and he felt absolutely terrible… worse than he'd ever felt in his whole life._

_Before he'd made the conscious decision to do it, he had scrambled across the floor to kneel next to her. He saw his hand reaching for her and – even though all he wanted to do was maybe stroke her hair or something – he pulled it back, realizing he didn't have that right anymore. Instead, he put his hands on his knees and bowed his head, whispering, "I'm so sorry Luce…"_


	10. CH 10: Discombobulated Reconciliation

**Author's Note:**

Hello all! It's Sunday! And time for a new chapter. ;D

As always, HUGE thanks to all my FANTASTIC reviewers. Big hugs and kisses to: waiting-for-you443, valerioux, Karmitara, BearPlusCat, BeautifulSamurai, Chibi-Lazy14, iamanimefreak13, SistershoOK, aliciacevbra, loopymama, Xerzo LotCN, Anna5949, stranger1999, Starstruck-MJ, quidditchChick6, Lucinda, NaLuAlways26, Katnibal94, maria Paula5659, CodenameMise, CrazyZaika, Leomae2.0, Starstruck-MJ, Catleana, Konasuki Profitt, Jonahziuss, and UzumakiDavis27. You guys are all amazing. :D

Alrighty! On with the show!

And stay tuned for the sneak peek at the end. ;D You'll definitely want to see this one.

* * *

"Mavis…what happened to him?" Lucy whispered in horror as she knelt next to a very passed out and beaten up Natsu.

He had bruises on just about every visible inch of skin, and he was covered in scrapes and cuts. Dirt caked him from head to toe, and his hair was matted down to his head and hung in his eyes.

"It looks like he picked a fight with the forest…and lost." Wendy agreed, already working her magic on the worst of his injuries.

"Oh Natsu…." Happy sniffled, hugging his arm and staring up at him with big watery eyes.

"He'll be okay Happy… don't worry. He's been hurt much worse than this before."

"You think so Luushy?"

The fact that the blue cat was slurring her name was a very good indication of how upset he was, and she nodded before picking him up and hugging him.

At that point, Wendy interjected with, "It looks like he broke his wrist and has a couple of fractured ribs, but those are his worst injuries. So he should be okay."

"Of course he'll be fine! Wendy is tending to him after all." Carla declared with pride and a dash of arrogance.

Happy detached himself from Lucy and switched to hugging his girlfriend with a tearful cry of her name. Meanwhile, Lucy practically melted with relief at the confirmation that he would be alright, even though she had been the first to say it.

Before long, all of Natsu's worst injuries had been taken care of… though he still looked like he'd been dragged through hell and back. However, even with Wendy's treatment, he still hadn't woken up – which concerned them all. Lucy had been worried about how he would react when they found him, but staying unconscious wasn't a good solution to the problem either.

Once Wendy was done healing him, she sat back and just looked at him for a long moment, and then her eyes met Lucy's and they shared a worried look.

"So…now what?" Lucy eventually inquired tentatively.

"Well…I've done all I can for him. So…" Wendy responded, chewing on her lip and looking back down at his prone body.

"Why isn't he waking up?"

They all turned to Happy, who had voiced the question that was sitting heavily in all their minds.

"I think it's just exhaustion. My magic isn't picking up anything overly wrong with him…though he _is_ really dehydrated."

"Oh… so he's just sleeping really soundly."

Lucy nodded. "Yeah Happy, he's just super sound asleep."

"It's probably closer to being passed out than mere sleep."

"Carla's right… he's not conscious at all. But he's not in a coma, so he should wake up on his own sooner or later." Wendy added, though she sounded a little more troubled than Lucy would like.

After a long pause, Lucy cleared her throat and offered, "Well… if there's nothing more we can do here, then we should probably get him somewhere safe and comfortable."

"Our house is closest!" Happy chirped, and she nodded, having visited their cottage more than enough times to know it was true.

"Right, let's get him home."

"Aye Sir!"

Of course five minutes later, the blue cat was singing a very different tune.

"So… HEAVY!"

"We can take breaks whenever you need to Happy, you're doing great!" Lucy called, knowing that he wasn't actually making a fat joke for once – though she knew from experience it could easily turn into one.

To get them both back, Lucy was piggybacking Natsu and holding onto him tight with both arms and legs while Happy carried her. She understood his complaint to be honest, because she was having a rough time holding up Natsu. How much did the guy weigh?! He wasn't much taller than her, but she KNEW _she_ wasn't this heavy. He had to weigh at least 200 pounds if not more. Just how much muscle did he possess?

"You sure you're doing okay?" Wendy asked worriedly next to them, having agreed to follow them back to Natsu's house and do one last check-up before she left.

"Yeah…we're okay…" Lucy huffed while Happy just grunted.

They both only lasted another ten minutes before needing a little breather, and they set down in a small clearing by a stream. Lucy let Natsu flop to the ground as gently as she possibly could under the circumstances and then planted her feet – which put her standing awkwardly over him. With a blush, she quickly swung her leg over his prone body and took a couple of steps to the side so she wouldn't be straddling him.

Wendy hopped over and inspected him to make sure that he was still doing alright – especially his ribs, since that was where Lucy was holding him up.

"He seems like he's doing well… but I'll give him a little more just to be sure." she said as she hit him with another dose of healing sky magic.

That also gave Lucy and Happy a little time for a breather, and they both plopped to the ground and huffed and puffed for a bit.

…

This pattern repeated for the next several hours until they finally reached Natsu's home around nightfall. After one last quick check up, Wendy and Carla headed back to their home for a much-needed night of sleep.

"Thank you both so, so much. You guys were lifesavers, we couldn't have done it without you."

"Of course! I'm just glad everything turned out okay." Wendy chirped with a smile while Carla nodded and said, "Indeed."

"We told Juvia and Gajeel we'd join them on a mission, but they aren't leaving until tomorrow afternoon. So we'll pop by in the morning and check on you guys again before we leave."

Lucy's eyes widened, surprised and feeling guilty that she had asked Wendy for help with something so strenuous right before a mission. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know you had a mission tomorrow! You must be exhausted after everything…"

"No, no! I'll be fine. Don't worry. I told them I had to help you with an emergency and might not be able to make it, and they were very understanding. But since we got back in time, I'll let them know I can come after all."

"Okay…if you're sure…"

"Of course she's sure. Helping each other in moments of crisis is what a guild does!" Carla barked aristocratically, and Lucy sent her a grateful smile.

"Exactly!" Wendy agreed with a happy grin, and then turned to head out the door. "Well… see you tomorrow! Oh, and be sure to try and get some fluids in Natsu if you can. My healing magic took care of any damage the dehydration caused his body, but it can't give him water."

"Okay, thanks. I'll be sure to do that."

Lucy and Happy waved goodbye to them as the other two took off, leaving them alone with the unconscious lump of fire dragon slayer. As soon as they were gone from sight, Lucy sighed and closed the door, turning to face the mess that awaited her. Predictably, their house was a disaster zone, and she really just wanted to clean it up… but under the circumstances she figured that a simple tidy would have to suffice.

"So what now Lucy?"

"First, we need to get all the trash and…whatever all this stuff is out of the way so Natsu can rest comfortably on the couch."

He was currently on a pile of trash, dirty clothes, and who-knew-what-else that hid the couch from view.

Happy winced and looked like he would protest at first, but after a stern eyeballing he deflated and mumbled, "Aye Sir…"

So, for the next half hour or so, they grabbed armfuls of stuff and simply shoved it into one designated corner. The trash Lucy went ahead and put in a pile just outside the door, and she started a pile of dirty clothes as well, but mostly they just cleared space. Eventually Natsu was actually lying on the couch and looked significantly more comfortable than before, especially since she'd put the blanket from his backpack over him and tucked his pillow under his head.

"There…much better." Lucy stated, looking him over with a tired smile and her hands proudly perched on her hips.

"Yeah…" Happy huffed from his spot on the floor, sounding much less enthused.

She glanced at him and then turned towards the kitchen. "Right. Now I need to see what kind of food you guys have. Natsu's probably going to be starving when he wakes up."

Of course naturally when she opened their big box fridge, it just had fish in it. With a sigh, she let the lid drop back down. "Yeah…I figured as much. Well Happy, it looks like we're going to be eating some of your fish."

He grimaced but for once didn't protest, probably because he was already more than half asleep. With a fond smile she went over and gently picked him up before placing him in his cat bed, snickering a little when he drooled and mumbled something about Carla. Yep…definitely asleep now.

After tucking him in, she sighed and went to sit on the hammock, the only other available sleeping space. She knew Natsu usually slept here, but she had no idea how to get him in it while he was unconscious – so, she supposed that just meant they had to trade places. Getting in proved a bit of a problem though, since she wasn't used to hammocks.

"Shit…" she hissed as she rubbed her head where she'd whacked it on the floor after sitting and toppling backwards.

"Okay, let's try this again shall we?"

With a hairy eyeball trained on the thing, she gingerly sat again, aiming her butt right at the middle. This time she managed to gingerly perch on the hung netting, but quickly found out that the next part was even more difficult. When she attempted to swing her legs up onto it, the whole contraption wobbled back and forth like a boat in a storm, and she squawked bloody murder and flailed until it ultimately dumped her once again onto the floor.

She laid there, staring up at it with bloodshot eyes and contemplated just sleeping here for the night… but she was just irritated enough to take it on one more time. Once again she grabbed the blanket from the ground and cautiously parked herself in the hammock. Then, with a deep breath, she swung her legs up and laid back in one motion, trying to do her best to not wobble around even though the hammock made her feel like she was falling once again. This time though – because she didn't thrash around trying to get her balance – she didn't capsize, and the thing eventually settled into a gentle rocking motion instead of turbulence.

"Thank Mavis…" she sighed, carefully tossing the blanket over her legs and tucking her balled-up jacket behind her head. "How does Natsu do this every night?"

She probably would have grumbled about it more… except she was already drifting off to sleep, the exhaustion finally catching up to her. As it did, she curled up more under the blanket and breathed in Natsu's scent, which lay a little too strongly on the blanket she was currently under. But for once, she didn't mind the smell, even if it bordered the realm of body odor.

After all the stress of the past few days, being blanketed in his thick scent was oddly soothing.

…

… _many hours later…_

When Natsu slowly started waking up, he had absolutely no idea what day it was, what time it was, or where he was. All he knew was that he felt like absolute crap.

It took a really long time for him to get his brain in gear and remember what the hell happened to make him feel so shitty – but as soon as the memories finally hit him, he shot upright, wild-eyed and worried that he'd been sleepwalking back to Lucy again. To his shock, as soon as he looked around, he realized that he was sitting on the couch in his own house… and had absolutely no idea how he'd gotten there. Had it all been a dream?

No, definitely not. There was plenty of dirt and crap crusted onto him that said he'd been wandering around the woods for days. So then how did he end up back at his house?

More importantly though, he was way too close to Magnolia! He had to get out of here and away from Lucy! That thought got him off the couch and heading for the door at top speed, but before he'd taken more than a couple of steps something distracted him. He froze and slowly turned to see Lucy out cold in his hammock.

His first reaction was, '_Oh shit!_' and he backed up so fast that he fell over backwards and landed on his ass. Pretty quickly though, he realized that the thing he was freaking out about wasn't happening… he wasn't having an uncontrollable need to run over and rape her. When nothing happened for a few minutes, he slowly began to discover that he wasn't feeling _any_ of the unbearable urges he'd been dealing with for the past few days.

There was still a lingering fire burning deep inside his gut that he guessed came from not finishing all the mating stuff with Luce, but thankfully it was controllable. It was dull enough that he'd probably be able to keep it under wraps as long as he didn't get too aroused and kept his dick to himself.

As soon as he realized that it was all finally over and he didn't have to be afraid of his own body doing something horrible to Lucy without his permission, a wave of relief nearly turned him into a soggy pile of goo. But quickly following that was all the guilt from what had happened, and he felt absolutely terrible… worse than he'd ever felt in his whole life.

Before he'd made the conscious decision to do it, he had scrambled across the floor to kneel next to her. He saw his hand reaching for her and – even though all he wanted to do was maybe stroke her hair or something – he pulled it back, realizing he didn't have that right anymore. Instead, he put his hands on his knees and bowed his head, whispering, "I'm so sorry Luce…"

"N-Natsu?"

His eyes flew open and he looked up… right as her eyes cracked open.

…

For Lucy, she was just coming out of an extremely deep sleep…. the first real sleep she'd gotten since Natsu had gone running out of her apartment. She wasn't exactly sure what had woken her up, other than some kind of light breeze brushing over her and the sense of someone nearby. The second her eyes opened, it was to the sight of pink hair, and she instantly knew whose presence she'd felt.

"N-Natsu?..." she mumbled sleepily at first, but then her brain turned on like a switch had been flipped and she was sitting up ramrod straight in the hammock.

Unfortunately, she sat up way too fast and ended up capsizing with a screech that would have woken the neighbors… if he had any.

"Woah! Watch it!" he yelped and managed to snag her outstretched hands.

He yanked her forwards to keep her from toppling over backwards and slamming her head into the ground like she'd done last night… but of course that meant she flipped forwards practically right into his lap. She crashed on top of him and they both went to the floor, though Natsu managed to land on his forearm, so he didn't fully collapse onto his back.

"Luce! You okay?! Oh…shit…sorry…"

He scrambled back and gently - but very quickly - shoved her off him. It was so abrupt that Lucy was left sitting on her knees wondering what had just happened and almost got her feelings hurt. Did he not want to touch her now? Why? Was it because of what they'd done?

For a second, she started to go down the rabbit hole of depression, growing increasingly sure that Natsu was either disgusted with her… or that the memories of what had happened between them made it too awkward for him to touch her… or something equally sad and disheartening. However, as soon as she risked looking into his black eyes, all those feelings melted away to be replaced with warm fluff. The only emotion she could see in his face was concern for her, as if he was afraid that she was scared of him now.

Following on the heels of that relief, she immediately remembered finding him all beaten up and how worried she'd been about him last night. It was amazing that she had even temporarily forgotten since he was still fairly scraped up and bruised and covered in all kinds of dried muck.

"Wait never mind all that, are you okay?! We found you passed out in a clearing, and Wendy said you must have been running around in circles for days based off your scent trail. What happened? Did you hurt yourself? Do you have a fever? You've got to be starving and dehydrated!"

His eyes flew wide and he stared at her with a totally shocked expression for a brief moment, and then he abruptly ducked his head and hid behind his hair – which flopped in his face since he apparently hadn't spiked it recently. That was understandable since he'd obviously had other things occupying his mind for the past few days… like surviving in the woods.

"Of course I'm fine… I'm the one who should be asking you if you're okay after what I did to you…" he mumbled, sounding utterly unlike himself and absolutely contrite.

A few drops of liquid hit his knees. She wouldn't have noticed except one happened to catch the light and caught her attention with it, and suddenly she realized that he was actually crying. At that point, her heart totally melted…. not that it wasn't already a puddle of jelly when it came to him, despite her best intentions to harden it against his dubious charms.

"Natsu…" she sighed, and reached out to stroke his hair.

He froze utterly still, as if shocked that she was willing to touch him. Ignoring his reaction, she continued to softly answer his question. "I'm fine. Porlyusica stopped by thanks to you, and I'm all healed up now. I don't blame you for what happened. Everything's okay, really."

His head flew up and he fixed her with shocked and almost angry eyes. "Everything's _**not**_ okay! I raped you Lucy, how is that okay?!"

She winced a little but managed to keep her cool. "You didn't rape me Natsu."

"Yes I did…I took you without permission. That's rape!"

With a sigh, she wondered how the hell she was going to convince him otherwise without completely blowing her cover and spilling the beans about her feelings for him.

"How much do you remember of that night?" she quietly asked, deciding that it was the safest place to start.

"Not…much."

He seemed ashamed of that fact, but she was quite honestly very relieved. Hopefully that meant he didn't remember her confession… or anything that would indicate how much pain she'd been in.

"Well, if you did remember, then you would know that you stopped before actually uh…doing it. You did force a few kisses and stuff, but you didn't rape me."

"But…I know we ended up having sex. How'd that happen if I stopped?"

"Because…" she sighed again, this being the hardest part to explain. "I gave you permission."

There was a long pause, in which she blushed and he stared at her with a blank expression. Then suddenly the silence was broken when he burst out, "Why the hell did you do that?! You had to know I was out of control and that I'd hurt you!"

"Yeah…I knew it'd probably hurt. But it would have hurt anyways since I was a virgin. And…I just…. Look, don't worry about it okay? I still think it was the right decision to make. I don't regret it and neither should you."

"That's not gonna cut it Luce… there's no way you would've agreed to something like that without a damn good reason. I'm gonna keep on regretting it until the day I die unless you tell me something to change my mind, and I really don't see that happening."

She grimaced. Why did he have to pick today of all days to become super dramatic? Why did he have to make this so ridiculously difficult? Couldn't he just accept that she was okay with what had happened and move on? But no, he wanted her to give him an explanation that would convince him he hadn't raped her.

"Natsu…." she groaned, and then sighed, glancing off to the side as she flushed a little with discomfort. "Oh fine. If you really need me to go into detail… when you thought I was rejecting you, you looked…I dunno. Broken. It wasn't really _you_… it was whatever took over when you…uh…did all that stuff. But…I got this feeling, like you'd shatter into a million pieces and would never come back together right. I know that sounds weird, but it's true."

She paused to heave another sigh, and then finished with, "I couldn't stand seeing you like that… so I gave you permission to continue."

When she glanced back, she was surprised to see that his eyes were wide and gazing off into the distance like he was lost in thought or stunned. He must have sensed her staring, because his somewhat glazed eyes flicked over to meet hers, and then he cleared his throat to answer the silent question she sent him.

"I, uh… what you described… it's possible that when my instincts took over, I was more dragon than human. At least inside, ya know? Not physically. But, uh… my dad actually told me that if a dragon was rejected by their mate, it could end really bad. Like…going insane or suicide bad. So…"

Lucy could feel her eyes widening, and a surge of righteous indignation welled up inside her alongside horror and fear. "And you didn't tell me this?!"

"I didn't even remember it until you said those things! Dad kinda mentioned in passing… and I sorta thought that he was talking about dragons, not dragon slayers. Besides, I didn't really find any of that mating stuff interesting back then, so I didn't pay much attention when he talked about it."

"Jeez, that's so like you." Lucy eventually snorted, rolling her eyes. "Fine. But if that's true, then I'm really glad I went with my instincts."

"I… guess so." Natsu still didn't sound overly convinced.

"Let's just not worry about it okay? We'll let it go and pretend it never happened."

He blinked and stared at her. "Wait… what d'you-?"

She railroaded over him, wanting to change the subject already and get things back to normal as soon as possible. "Right now, I think the best thing to do is to get some food in your belly. I bet you're starving."

She stood, and his eyes followed her. A tiny bit of their sparkle returned at the mention of food, and his stomach gave an almighty roar that answered for him. She laughed and headed to his kitchen. "See? I'm right aren't I?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, we just have Happy's fish, but we can cook it up, and I'll buy him some more tomorrow."

"Okay." he said, and then his eyes darted around, quickly landing on the cat in question – who was still surprisingly sound asleep in his bed.

"He really tired himself out yesterday flying us both back here."

Guilt flashed across Natsu's face and remained in the form of a scrunch between his eyebrows. As he made his way over towards the cat bed, Lucy started digging through the fish fridge and pulled out specimens for cooking. Of course, naturally Natsu didn't have much in the way of cooking utensils… or an oven for that matter.

She was distracted by Happy's cry of, "Natsu!" and turned to watch the Exceed slam into his chest and start sobbing. "We were so worried! I'm so glad you're awake!"

"Hey there little buddy. Sorry for scarin' ya." Natsu said with a warm smile and started patting Happy on the head.

After watching for a while, Lucy cleared her throat and asked, "You boys ready to eat some fish?"

"Yeah!"

"Aye Sir!"

Of course, once Happy realized they were eating HIS fish, he protested… up until Lucy reminded him of her promise to take him to the fish market and buy him whatever he wanted for his help. Then he perked up and dug in with them. Some of the fish had been purchased pre-gutted, so she ate those – after Natsu had flash fried them – while he and Happy just ate everything and anything they got their hands on.

He seemed ravenous, and she grew even more convinced that he probably hadn't eaten anything in days… which was nuts for Natsu. It also reminded her to plop a glass of water in front of him and tell him to drink, which he did without any protesting.

Finally, once he had completely demolished Happy's fish, he settled back, looking significantly more content and at ease than when they started.

"That was great…" he sighed happily, and then burped and slumped a little in his chair.

"Yeah…" Happy agreed, but then worriedly looked at the empty box fridge. "But they're all gone now…"

"Don't worry. Remember, we're going on a shopping spree tomorrow." Lucy reminded him again, and he perked back up.

After that, there was a long silence, only broken by Lucy picking up her fish bones and walking to the door to toss them on the trash heap. The atmosphere was a little tense and awkward, full of unspoken questions from Happy and memories from the other two. She lingered near the door, wondering if maybe she should just leave now that Natsu seemed okay.

Before she could make up her mind though, the thick moment was broken by Natsu as he murmured, "You sure everything's okay?"

The fact that he was asking again just went to show how perturbed he was by it all. Normally, once she told him not to worry about something, he took her at her word and immediately let it go. But this time, when she turned to eyeball him, he was looking worried again and unsure.

"Yes Natsu, I'm sure. Everything's fine."

"But I-"

He was interrupted by a polite knock on the door.

"Oh! That's probably Wendy, she said she'd pop over to check on you."

Lucy quickly turned back towards the door and opened it again, greeting the blue-haired girl and white cat on the other side. "Good morning!"

"Hi Lucy! How's Natsu doing?" Wendy asked as she walked in, then spied said pink-haired person and immediately smiled. "Natsu! Oh good! I'm so glad you're awake!"

"Hey guys!" he shot them a smile that was only slightly dimmer than usual.

"Carla!" Happy cheered, hurrying over to his kitty girlfriend and giving her a little smooch, which she quickly ended.

"Tomcat…how many times have I told you not to do that in public!" she scolded haughtily, but Lucy could tell her voice lacked its usual bite.

While she was smirking at the feline couple, Wendy had joined Natsu at the table. "Are you hurt? I healed what I could see last night, but I didn't know if there was anything that I missed."

"Nah, I feel great!"

"Oh good." Wendy sighed, sounding relieved.

After a few more minutes of chatting and checking on Natsu, Carla interrupted. "Wendy, we should leave now if we're going to meet Juvia and Gajeel on time."

"Oh right! Yeah, we're actually on our way out of town on a mission..." Wendy explained to Natsu, who looked a little confused.

"Awww…do ya have to go…?" Happy whined, pouting at Carla.

She sniffed snootily. "Of course! We made a promise, and it's very impolite to go back on your word."

"I guess…"

"Don't worry Happy, it's not going to be a long mission. We'll be back within the week." Wendy soothed, bending down to give the downcast cat a smile.

He perked up some. "Really? Oh good…"

"You really are a nuisance." Carla sighed, but her voice was fond rather than irritated.

"Aw, don't be like that Carla. I just miss you when you're gone, you know?"

They were so dang cute that it helped wash away some of Lucy's leftover tension and awkwardness. If only hers and Natsu's relationship could be so simple…

And with that last thought, all the tension came right back and she sighed, feeling like she'd gotten duped. It sucked to feel good one moment and then sad the next…especially when something so nice was the source of her sadness. This was going to be a real pain if she had these sorts of feelings every time she saw a cute couple. Lovey-dovey scenes had always inspired a little bit of jealousy and sadness in her ever since she fell in love, but those feelings seemed to have magnified significantly.

She sincerely hoped it didn't take forever and a day to get over her extra sensitivity towards romance, because it made her want to crawl in a hole and die.

To distract herself from the fresh wave of hurt, she turned to Wendy. "Thanks for stopping by and checking up on us. And thank you again for all your help yesterday."

"No problem! I'm so happy it all worked out."

With a few more hurried thanks and goodbyes, the sky dragon slayer and white Exceed eventually headed out the door. As they left, Lucy stared after them and once again contemplated exiting the premises herself. She hesitated at the door and bit her lip, chewing on it in mild distress.

Her heart felt split right down the middle. On the one hand, she desperately wanted some alone time to try and compartmentalize her scattered emotions. Yet…she also didn't want to leave him, especially after everything that had happened.

Heck, she wanted to take care of him…feed him some more…make sure he drank lots of water…scrub all the filth off him and get him into some clean clothes…and bandage his leftover scrapes and bumps…. but that was the job of a girlfriend. Well, she supposed it could be the job of his best friend too, but she knew good and well that she couldn't do any of that without her feelings getting involved. They were too raw and fresh for her to stay platonic.

No, the best thing for her to do right now was to get some space and screw her head on right so things could go back to normal between them. They didn't need any more complications, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could stay and keep herself together. The longer she was around him, the more she started to remember all the things she'd told herself to forget.

"I should, uh, probably head out too. I've got some stuff to do at my apartment." Lucy eventually mumbled.

Natsu's eyes flew to her. "You're leaving?!"

"Well…yeah. I'm sure you could use some rest and time to reconnect with Happy, right? And I need to go take a shower and get a nap. I'm still tired."

"Oh…okay. I guess…"

She wasn't sure she'd ever seen or heard him so obviously hesitant, and it hurt to know she was the cause. Her lips opened and shut on words that tried to come out, '_I don't want to go'_… '_I'm sorry'_ … '_It's not about that night_' … '_Please don't be sad'_ … '_I just need some space'_… But none of what she was thinking made it past her lips.

Eventually she simply said, "Yeah…well, uh…yeah. See you tomorrow 'kay?"

She cringed as she left, feeling utterly stupid and inadequate for saying something so meaningless and running out on him when he was obviously still struggling with what had happened. But she just needed a little breathing room and a little time to stitch up her heart and remind herself to forget everything that had happened.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_Before he knew what he was saying, words were spilling out of his mouth. "You don't want me?"_

_As he watched, her face totally changed into a different sort of expression... a__nd then she whispered, "…of course I want you. Idiot…I love you."_

_He could've figured that out just by her expression, but hearing her say it made him feel like he was melting inside… and he couldn't remember the last time he'd been so happy. It was wonderful and amazing and awesome and perfect… up until his instincts woke back up and made him ridiculously horny and out of control again. Then, everything turned into a mess of heat and lust and pleasure._

_As soon as he shoved himself inside her, he woke with a gasp and jerked upright. _


	11. CH 11: Thank Mavis for Mr Sandman

**Author's Note:**

Hi everyone! It's Sunday! And that means a brand new chapter! :D And I can't believe I'm actually able to get this out earlier in the day than usual.

As always, HUGE thanks to all my WONDERFUL reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to: SistershoOK, valerioux, Anna5949, OhtaSuzuke, Stormy Lights, stranger1999, H2o2000, Daydream-wannabewriter, Konasuki Profitt, Writer in the Meadow, waiting-for-you443, illleashya, I12Bfree, NaLuAlways26, FireShifter, ManderNaner, Chibi-Lazy14, CrazyZaika, ABT4Life, Mishy1824, Karmitara, dani-yell10, UzumakiDavis27, NebelTeddyBear, CodenameMise, fairyblue1132, Andria Justus Haynie, Katnibal94, quidditchChick6, Trottingham-sama, zahad dragneel, Lucinda, Catleana, Leomae2.0, PandoraJ, and Jonahziuss! You're all amazing!

Alrighty! I know you're eager to get on with the show, so without further delay, let's get to it! And stay tuned till the end for the sneak peek of next chapter. ;D

* * *

Much to Lucy's relief, things actually seemed to go back to normal over the next few days. She, Natsu, Happy, and Gray even went on a short 2-day mission – not necessarily because she wanted to, but because she needed to for rent. However, though she'd had some trepidation about going on a mission so soon, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise and actually helped to normalize everything. There was definitely some awkwardness and tension between her and Natsu on the first day, but by the time the mission was finished, things had almost completely blown over.

Their normal banter was perhaps a bit more subdued, and there was still a hint of a shadow hanging over them, but she supposed that would simply take time to dissipate completely. Personally, she was mostly working under the strategy of simply pretending like that night had never happened. For that matter, she was trying to mentally deny the entire episode, including all the days leading up to the final night. Whenever a memory flashed through her mind – usually brought about by a random touch or when she was trying to go to sleep – she shoved it down into the heavily armored safe where she stored all her less than platonic feelings for Natsu.

So far it had worked pretty well.

…

Except that Natsu knew Lucy was pretending it hadn't happened.

He might come off as dumb when it came to people's feelings, but that was probably because he was impulsive and didn't usually think before he said or did something.

When it came to Lucy, he was always pretty in tune to how she was feeling, so he knew good and well that she was still upset about what he'd done. She might have forgiven him, but she refused to talk about it…. And whenever she avoided talking about something, it was usually something that made her sad or upset.

So he'd stopped trying to bring it up, because he didn't want to make her unhappy. More than anything, he wanted her to get comfortable with him again. It _seemed_ like they'd gone back to the way they had been before, but he could feel the space she kept between them – like she'd built up a bunch of walls or something to hide behind. Tension made the air smell sour, and it really got under his skin and wore on his nerves.

But even though he kept his trap shut about it, _he_ couldn't pretend like it hadn't happened… not to himself anyways. Everything that had gone down had made some big changes in him that wouldn't be going away – ever – so it was pretty impossible for him to just go back to the way things were, even if that was what she wanted.

All the emotions that were sparked had turned into a full-blown fire in his gut. They'd already been there, but he just hadn't ever really put two-and-two together before. 'Course, there was no way in hell he could miss such a huge clue as him picking her as his mate. Igneel had told him that if he ever did choose a mate, it was the person he was meant to be with for the rest of his life.

To be honest, he was pretty shocked that he hadn't realized he was in love with her before that, but…well…he'd never really had those sorts of feelings before, so he'd always just figured that Lucy was his super-extra-special friend that he cared for more than anyone else. It hadn't ever crossed his mind that what he was feeling was love…but that's definitely what it was. Maybe he should have figured it out when he couldn't picture life without her, or when it hurt so damn bad to leave her behind for that year of training. He might've set off on that little adventure all enthusiastically without really thinking about it – but a couple weeks into it, he'd started dreaming about her and missing her waaaaay more than he'd ever thought possible. That was probably why he'd thrown himself into training so hard… 'cause he was trying to distract himself.

So… now he was left with a really irritating problem. He had to keep his feelings to himself for a while, even though that wasn't what he wanted to do at all. If it wouldn't freak Lucy out, he would have told her he loved her as soon as he figured it out, but she obviously didn't want that. She had to know his feelings after he'd made her his mate, so the only thing he could figure was that she didn't feel the same about him.

That wouldn't stop him from pursuing her of course – he definitely planned to change her mind – but he assumed she probably needed a little time to come to terms with the idea. So, he kept himself from bringing up any of that stuff while they were on their mission.

Weirdly enough though, the thought never even crossed his mind that he shouldn't visit her later that night after they'd returned to Magnolia.

As usual, when they came back from their mission, he hung out at the guildhall longer than her – picking fights and having fun – and by the time he was done, it was dark outside and Lucy had already gone home. Without even thinking about it, his feet led the way to Lucy's apartment instead of his house when he and Happy left.

If he'd been paying better attention, or maybe had a better mind frame, he might've figured out that he probably shouldn't go barging in there so soon. But no, he hadn't really thought about that.

When he hopped through the window, he very nearly fell right back out and instantly had second thoughts about how good an idea this was. His hesitance had nothing to do with Lucy yelling at him from where she'd jumped out of bed though. No… it had everything to do with their combined scent still hanging around in the room, especially around the bed. 'Course, that was where he landed after entering the window, so he immediately got smacked in the nose with the smell of sweat, blood, and sex.

It had faded a lot, but it was still definitely around – even under the soap that she'd used to wash the sheets with.

The reminder was both jarring and arousing… which kinda made him feel like shit, 'cause he definitely shouldn't be getting aroused by that particular memory. But, there were still those lingering instincts that told him he had to finish what he'd started with her. He was usually able to keep them shoved to the back of his mind, but the smell had brought it all forwards… which was uncomfortable and more than a little dangerous.

After a whole lotta huffing and puffing from Lucy – which Natsu mostly ignored because he had better things to worry about, like not jumping her – she eventually gave in and asked, "Oh whatever. What are you doing here anyways?"

"What do ya mean? I'm just doing what I always do."

"Sneaking into my room hoping to spend the night?" she asked sourly.

"Well…yeah. Duh."

"Ugh! Do you really think that's a good idea?! I mean…"

He cringed when she trailed off and finally realized this was a pretty bad idea. But what else was he supposed to do?

Thinking fast, he spat out the first thing that came to mind – desperate to get permission to stay. "But you're the one who said you wanted things to go back to normal. This is normal."

She sputtered around for a moment and then barked, "Yeah, and I'm reacting the way I always do! I'm always mad whenever you sneak in here without permission at night!"

"Alright, alright…I'll sleep on the couch." he grumbled and hopped off the bed – secretly super relieved to put a little space between it and his nose.

"What?! What makes you think that's okay?!"

"That's where you always put me right?"

"I…well…yeah but…I normally don't even give you permission!"

"Aw come on Luce…let me stay. Please?"

"No!"

"Pleeeeaaase?"

"No!"

It didn't look like she was going to budge anytime soon, so he stopped joking around and got serious. His next request came out almost as a whisper and sounded way too close to begging for his comfort.

"Please let me stay…"

At least it worked, because she immediately got less angry and her eyes widened in surprise.

After a long silence, she quietly asked, "Why do you want to stay so badly?"

It looked like he was going to have to fess up to at least part of the reason he wanted to be here so badly, or else she wasn't going to let him stay.

"I've been having some bad dreams…about you gettin' hurt. If I'm here, I can make sure you're okay when I wake up…" he finally confessed, feeling a little awkward and embarrassed about it. He kinda preferred keeping that kind of stuff secret.

"Oh…"

After a pause, Natsu risked asking, "So…can I stay?"

"Fine…" she sighed and plopped back into bed. "But you're sleeping on the couch. If you even _think_ of getting in bed with me, you'll be out of here so fast your head will spin… and you won't be sleeping over again."

"Aye Sir!"

"I'm serious Natsu…"

"I promise! I'll stay over here. I won't move from the couch till morning. And Happy can even sleep on my chest, so if I try to sleep-walk he'll wake up and then wake me up. Right little buddy?"

When he didn't get a response, he spun to see that Happy was already curled up on the couch sound asleep. With a frown he marched over to him and picked him up.

"Wha…? Natsu?"

"Happy, I need you to do something very important for me. Wake up so I can tell ya."

His friend's eyes popped open and looked at him with a lot more alertness. "What's wrong?"

"I want you to sleep on top of me, so if I try to sleep-walk over to Lucy you'll wake up and can wake me up. I'm staying on the couch tonight."

"Oh…okay. I can do that. But are you sure you _waaaaaant_ me to?"

Normally his partner's jokes didn't faze him, but tonight wasn't the time for that. "This is serious Happy. I've gotta prove to Luce that I can keep my promise… otherwise she won't trust us enough to let us stay the night ever again."

The grin on Happy's face immediately dropped and he went wide-eyed instead. "What?! No way…that's no fun. I'll definitely make sure you stay on the couch!"

"Thanks." he said with a relieved smile and then turned to face Luce. "See?"

She eyeballed them for a moment and then finally got back into bed and yanked the covers over her. "Alright then…I'm holding you to that."

"Yeah…me too," he whispered to himself a little later, after he'd also laid down and Happy had fallen asleep on his chest.

It took a good long while for Luce to fall asleep… he could hear her quietly grumbling to herself for a long time after they'd both settled down.

He didn't really like knowing that he was upsetting her, but this felt like a step in the right direction to getting her comfortable with him again. Plus…the truth was he really couldn't stand sleeping so far away from her. He'd learned that the hard way when she left his house that day he woke up from being in heat.

There was more to it than just the bad dreams… his instincts were still yelling at him that she was his mate and he hadn't claimed her properly. Being away from her for too long made him feel very, very uncomfortable. It was closest to the kind of discomfort he'd had at the very beginning of being in heat, and he could stand it if he had to, but he really didn't want to.

That first day back, it had been downright torture to let her leave. He was pretty sure he hadn't slept more than a few minutes that night with all the tossing and turning…. which naturally kept getting his ass dumped out of his hammock. That was the main reason he had insisted they get a job right away, because he knew they would either rent a room together or at least next to each other, and he could be closer to her. So the very next day – after they got Happy's fish – he'd practically dragged her to the mission board and picked out something.

Even then, sleeping in separate rooms had put him on edge and made him pissy to the point that he and Gray nearly destroyed their room at least ten times.

He might be able to mostly control his leftover instincts and urges, but he was gonna have to learn how to live with being extra clingy, protective, and possessive. That stuff would probably go away after he'd finished mating with her, but who knew when that was going to happen? So, she was just gonna have to deal with him having a few more sleepovers than usual… though he would be making absolutely sure he stuck to the couch.

If he broke his promise and ended up hopping into bed with her… he didn't know how many of his instincts would get woken up or how strong they'd be. There was no way in hell he'd ever put her through that kind of situation again.

But it was still worth it to sleep here… even with the danger and his instincts yelling at him to go over there and finish what he'd started. Her scent soothed him as much as it riled him up, and he quickly felt himself starting to fall asleep.

A dream hit him fast and hard as soon as he lost consciousness. Lucy's scent swamped him, and he felt like he was drowning in it… but in the best way. It was dark, and he wasn't really sure where they were exactly… but she was under him and his head was buried in her neck and he couldn't care less about anything else.

The brief thought that there was some reason why he shouldn't be doing this went through his mind, but he brushed it off.

His hands and lips moved without his say-so, and it didn't take him long to realize she was basically naked with all the skin he could feel. It kinda felt like he was pretty naked too. Everything was a bit fuzzy though, as if he was watching this from a distance while experiencing it first-hand, and he had no control over anything that happened. He felt like an observer in his own body – which was pretty weird – but he was so wrapped up in everything that he didn't really care.

Except…he started to care a lot more when he realized that Lucy was yelling and crying and begging him to stop. At that point, the dream almost became a nightmare, as he tried to do what she asked but failed miserably.

He was panicking, absolutely horrified, and yet… every part of him was alive with fire and felt so good he couldn't stop. He was a monster. How could he enjoy this when Lucy was obviously scared and upset? Desperately he clawed at himself, trying to get himself under control, but it just wasn't happening.

Then, something finally clicked. This was a dream, it had to be. It wasn't real…except…it felt so damn real. It was so much more vivid than a dream, there was way too much detail…something was off.

'_Wake up…I have to wake up…wake up damn it_!' he shouted, but nothing came out and he couldn't tear himself away. It was like Lucy's scent had trapped him and was forcing him to do these things to her that he loved and she hated.

And then, he was ripping off her underwear, and his dick was out and pressed against her, and his heart was pounding so hard he thought for sure it had to wake him up. '_No, god…please…no…don't make me…_'

And then finally, whatever spell had him in its grip shattered as she screamed, "No!" and he recognized something different in her voice. He'd thought she sounded scared before… but compared to her last scream, all the others had been super weak – like she hadn't really meant them.

He was finally able to stop and look up at her, but when he met her eyes he wished he hadn't. They were full of tears that he'd caused, and she looked so scared that he kinda wanted to kill himself. Something else swamped him though, something weird and primal and not normal at all. The beast that had taken him over – which he guessed was the dragon part of him – howled in absolute pain. It'd ignored her protests before, because somehow it still thought she was accepting his advances… as if it hadn't sensed actual rejection in her body language or tone.

It sure as hell did now though, and the feeling was kind of like being kicked in the balls. It was that same sort of gut-wrenching shock of pain and his insides twisting. His heart sunk into his stomach and felt like it was burning or dissolving or something, and he wanted to just curl up and die.

Before he knew what he was saying, words were spilling out of his mouth. "You don't want me?"

As he watched, her face totally changed. The fear slowly left her expression, and shock replaced it – which meant her eyes went wide and her lips parted. The surprise softened everything… but her face kept getting even softer as it was slowly taken over by something else… something warm and gentle and burning and wonderful that made everything right with the world again and completely erased his pain from before.

And then she whispered, "…of course I want you. Idiot…I love you."

He could've figured that out just by her expression, but hearing her say it made him feel like he was melting inside… and he couldn't remember the last time he'd been so happy. It was wonderful and amazing and awesome and perfect… up until his instincts woke back up and made him ridiculously horny and out of control again. Then, everything turned into a mess of heat and lust and pleasure.

As soon as he shoved himself inside her, he woke with a gasp and jerked upright – which knocked Happy off him of course.

"Wha…Natsu? What're you doin'?" he asked sleepily from the floor.

"Oh uh…nothin'. Just a bad dream." he told his companion and scooped him back onto his chest. "Go back to sleep."

"Kay…"

A few seconds later he was snoring soundly, which left Natsu staring up at the ceiling and doing his absolute best to ignore the raging hard-on between his legs. Making himself busy by trying to figure out what the hell just happened helped – though the memory of it definitely didn't. All he could figure was that he'd just remembered something he had forgotten about that damned night, and it'd come out in a dream. If that was true, then Luce really had said those things and she really loved him…which would make things so much easier. Then he could be with her and wouldn't have to wait for her to feel the same way he did.

That thought kept him awake for the rest of the night.

…

The next morning, Lucy woke to find two very strange things. One, Natsu had not crawled in bed with her. Instead, he was sitting on the couch staring at her… which was the second strange thing she'd noticed. Waking up to someone silently staring at you was unnerving at best… but it was even weirder when it was coming from someone who normally never shut up.

"Um…okay…way to be weird Natsu." she croaked disapprovingly and gave him a wide berth on her way to the bathroom.

After her morning routine, she came back out only to discover that Natsu was still… off. She even had to put up with him quietly watching her all through breakfast. Of course he still stuffed his face, but he never took his eyes off her for more than a second. At first she thought if she ignored it, the bizarre behavior would go away… but no, of course it didn't. Even Happy noticed and was giving Natsu weird looks.

So, after about thirty minutes of that, Lucy lost her composure and smacked her hands down flat on the table, making all the cutlery and dishes shudder and clink.

"What is up with you?! You've been staring at me with that weird look since I woke up! Do I have something on my face?!"

Naturally, the first thing she'd done when she went into the bathroom was check to see if he'd drawn anything on her, but she was spotless as far as she could tell.

"I dreamed about that night."

"Ah…oh…I see." she stuttered, suddenly thrown off her game by that one little statement. "Um…what about it?"

"I think I remember a lot more of what happened…"

She flushed and glanced uncomfortably at Happy. Thankfully the little cat was thoroughly preoccupied with his fish and didn't seem to have caught on to what they were talking about. He'd probably figure it out quickly enough though if Lucy couldn't get her embarrassed blush under control.

She cleared her throat and did her best to wrestle her embarrassment under control. It made things a little easier for her to focus on how Natsu must be feeling, and the thought of his potential guilt and perturbation helped to wash away some of her discomfort – or at least enough for her to address him in a steady tone of voice.

"Well…please don't worry about anything you remembered. Like I said, it's over and done with and everything turned out fine."

"Yeah…" He nodded, but kept giving her that look. Then after a moment he added, "I remembered when you gave me permission."

At first she was relieved, thinking that maybe now he wouldn't be so upset about what had happened.

"Good. I'm glad." she said with a gentle smile.

However, a few moments later, she realized the potential greater ramifications of that and froze stock still in her kitchen chair. She'd said a lot more than, 'go ahead,' after all. Her permission had also included a confession of those feelings she had been hiding for so long… and suddenly she felt a wave of concern wash over her. Her mouth opened, ready to ask what exactly he remembered, but then she shut it without saying anything.

Before she could figure out what to say, he asked, "Why didn't you tell me why you gave me permission?"

"Huh? You mean when we were at your house? I did, remember?"

He huffed in impatience. "But you didn't say that it was 'cause you love me."

By now, Happy was definitely paying attention and was watching the exchange with wide eyes. When Natsu said that, he said, "O_ooooh_….Lucy _looooves_ you, Natsu."

She ignored the cat in favor of trying to figure a way out of this pickle. She could try to deny it, but there wasn't really any point to that anymore. He'd figured it out, and there wasn't much more to say about it. All she could do was just accept it and hope that he didn't get weird about it. Knowing him, he'd probably blow it off easily enough…. and in all honesty, she was more worried about herself.

Eventually she simply slumped as she gave up. With a sigh, she looked away and muttered, "I just didn't want to make our friendship awkward. I know you don't feel that way about me, and you were upset after everything that happened. It seemed like a bad idea to add one more thing on top of it all."

After one or two seconds of utter silence, Natsu busted out with, "Wait! You don't think I feel the same way?! Are you kidding?!"

She jerked, not expecting such a loud and vehement answer. The shock caused her head to turn of its own accord and she fixed wide eyes on him, taking in his disbelieving expression.

"I know you don't… why are you upset?"

He scowled. "Why don't ya think I love you?"

That was a peculiar question, and she frowned right back at him, not understanding why he was being so weird about this. "It's obvious. You've never showed any interest in me. You were totally oblivious to my advances when I first realized my feelings. Frankly, as far as I can tell, you've never shown any interest in girls at all. I've just sort of assumed you were asexual or something."

"Huh…well I guess that makes sense. I mean, _**I**_ didn't even realize it until I went into heat… guess I'm kinda dense about those things." He grimaced and then chuckled awkwardly. "But why would you still think I don't care about ya after I picked you as my mate?"

This was going in a very unexpected direction, and Lucy found her heart beating way too fast. If she wasn't mistaken, it sounded very much like Natsu was saying he did have romantic feelings for her, and it was so crazy and unbelievable she had a hard time wrapping her mind around the concept.

"Um…I just figured you sort of picked the first person you saw or something? I don't know…"

"Wha?! Seriously?! Jeez…that's rude. What do you think I am? Some kinda animal or something?"

At that, she just couldn't resist muttering, "Well you act like one often enough…"

Happy snorted and Natsu gave them both the stink eye. He actually looked and sounded offended, much to Lucy's surprise.

"No! The only reason I went into heat in the first place is cause I'm a dragon slayer, so I'd be going into heat like a dragon! Dragons _mate for life_!"

It took Lucy a moment to absorb and process that information. "Wait…waitwaitwait. What do you mean by '_mate for life?_'"

"Just what it sounds like! The only person I'd pick for my mate is the person I wanna spend the rest of my life with. Duh."

"… and when you say, '_spend the rest of your life with_'… do you mean platonically or…?"

He gave her a mildly disgusted look. "Jeez you're bein' stupid Luce. Why don't ya get it? I love you! I'm _**in**_ love with you! Not as a friend…well, I mean you _are_ my best friend…but more than that! _**Love**_, love. Like… marriage, babies, sex, dating, flowers… all that shit. _That_ kinda love."

"Oh…" she said weakly, feeling so numb with shock that she wasn't even embarrassed by him saying 'sex.' Then a worrying thought occurred to her. "But wait…quick question. Do you only feel this way because you chose me as your mate? I mean, is it a side effect of that? Because you said you didn't feel like this before going into heat…"

His eye twitched. "You've got it totally backwards. I loved you first, then picked you as my mate because of that. Hell, I must've picked you as my mate _waaaay_ before this whole heat thing."

"You loved me before going into heat? But…how…you never showed any sign of that!"

"That's 'cause I didn't know! I mean, I always knew there was something different about the way I felt about you, but…I just couldn't figure out what. I guess I never really thought about it to be honest."

That really did sound completely plausible. She could totally see Natsu being in love and just not paying enough attention to the emotion to notice it.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me…so this whole time…" she groaned, thinking back to all the heartache she'd experienced over the past few years.

"I probably would've realized it a lot sooner if you'd told me how you felt." Natsu pointed out.

A spark of irritation made her snap at him. "But I didn't think it would do any good! What was the point of confessing my feelings for you when you didn't feel the same way!? It would've just made things awkward!"

"But I did feel the same way!"

"How was _**I**_ supposed to know that if _**you**_ didn't even know it?!"

They glared at each other for a few heartbeats and then the tension broke. First Natsu's lips twitched, then Lucy's, and soon they'd dissolved into stupid laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Happy had been glancing back and forth between them like he was watching some kind of sport. Eventually, after they'd been laughing a few minutes, he asked, "Soooo….is everything okay now? Did you guys finally make up?"

"Yeah Happy, everything's okay. Better than okay." Lucy breathlessly chuckled, wiping tears of relief, happiness, mirth, and amazement from her cheeks.

After a few more moments of snickers, snorts, and guffaws, the laughter slowly tapered off. Lucy leaned back and watched as Natsu realized that he still had food on his plate and started wolfing down the rest of his now-cold breakfast. She honestly couldn't believe that had just happened. Who would have thought that he actually loved her all this time, and they could have been together long before now? It was mindboggling.

Of course now the question was… what happened next? They'd confessed their feelings, so she assumed they were now a couple… but with Natsu it was never safe to just assume something. If nothing else, this whole experience had taught her that much. It would probably be best to make sure they were on the same page.

"So what now?"

"Hm?" he asked, his mouth full of the last bite of eggs from his plate.

"Now what? We've both confessed, so are we a couple? Do we start dating? Where do we go from here?"

He swallowed with a loud gulp that sounded almost painful and then cleared his throat. "I dunno. I've never done this before. But I guess, yeah, we're a couple. Right? That's how these sorts of things work?"

His confusion was surprisingly adorable.

"Usually, yes. After someone confesses and their feelings are reciprocated, the two people start dating and are a couple. I just wanted to make sure that's what you wanted." she replied with her lips twitching in amusement.

He nodded and gave her one of the biggest and brightest grins she'd ever seen on his face. "Awesome!"

Then, his smile dropped just a hair and his head cocked to the side. "So how exactly do we date?"

She could feel a sweat drop grow on her forehead. "Um…we go on dates? You know, we go out to eat, maybe go to the lacrima movies, go on a picnic, just…do fun stuff together as a couple? Ring any bells?"

"Well yeah, I know what a date is. I just didn't know if there was something special to 'dating' besides going on dates."

To both of their surprise, Happy was the one to pipe up and give the pink-haired idiot a lesson.

"To be a good boyfriend you have to give her presents! Especially on Valentines Day and her birthday and Christmas. And be sure to tell her she's pretty all the time. And make sure you smell good or she'll complain. Oh! And …"

Natsu and Lucy both stared at the cat in shock as he continued to list things, not expected the surprisingly detailed lecture on how to be a good boyfriend. He and Carla had gotten together a little over a month ago, and Lucy was impressed by how well the white cat had trained him. Of course, after spending so much time working to win Carla over, she supposed it wasn't surprising that he would go out of his way to make sure he did everything he could to keep her happy.

Natsu looked a little overwhelmed. "Seriously? You've gotta do all of that to be a good boyfriend?"

Lucy had to laugh at his nearly panicked expression. "Happy's definitely got some good tips, you should listen to him. But don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_Mira pounced on Lucy's apprehension and suddenly suggested, "Hey, I have an idea. How about we have a sleepover? Just us girls. We can invite the other girls too."_

_"That's a great idea! We can have a night full of bubble baths, **wine**, chocolate, and girl talk." Cana enthused, immediately on board with the transformation mage's plan. _

_"Mm-hm, and if anyone's having relationship problems it'll be a perfect excuse for us to all put our heads together and help them out."_

_"What do you think Lucy?"_

_They turned to her, and she blinked owlishly at them. This had come out of nowhere and she wasn't really sure how to respond. On the one hand, she could already predict how awkward and embarrassing it would be, but on the other hand… she really could use some advice and help. The sooner she could put these fears to rest, the better..._


	12. CH 12: Lady Talk

**Author's Note**:

Hey all! It's Sunday! And you know what that means! A new chapter!

As always, HUGE thanks to all my AMAZING reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to: Lucinda, H2o2000, Karmitara, aliciacevbra, ABT4Life, FireShifter, Andria Justus Haynie, Katnibal94, BearPlusCat, Mishy1824, valerioux, kaijere, Anna5949, SistershoOK, illleashya, Leomae2.0, NaLuAlways26, Kelsicole2194, quidditchChick6, sakshishetty3003, CodenameMise, waiting-for-you443, Konasuki Profitt, Chibi-Lazy14, stranger1999, BeachBumBabe, dani-yell10, BeautifulSamurai, hai hai senpai, CrazyZaika, lilyblossom613, Stubenhocker, , NebelTeddyBear, littlerena, and Catleana.

Alrighty, I know you're all eager to see what happens next, so let's get right to it shall we? And be sure to stay till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter. ;D

* * *

Naturally, with Natsu as her boyfriend, there was no way that their new status would go unspoken. It came as no surprise that he managed to spill the beans the very same day that they confessed, and the news spread throughout the entire guild.

So, the next few days were full of Lucy trying to fend off the various teasing from her overeager guildmates. She knew they didn't mean any harm, but it was still incredibly annoying… especially when they made any kind of inappropriate innuendoes or jokes. All _that_ managed to do was remind her how spectacularly their first time had failed to be pleasant.

Like now for example. Natsu had picked his normal fight with Gray, and the icy idiot had responded with, "Wow… what's wrong Natsu? You not getting any? Ya seem awfully frustrated for someone who just got a girlfriend. You sure you're doing your job right in the bedroom?"

That had escalated the fight significantly, and Lucy winced as Natsu went mildly ballistic. He didn't take the teasing very well either, probably for the same reason that Lucy didn't. It brought up bad memories.

As she watched the fight unfolding, she couldn't help her mind from drifting to places it really shouldn't. On the one hand, she loved watching him fight – she always had – but now it had a new meaning to her, and she couldn't help but be nervous as she noted just how violent he could be. It might not be the most violent she'd seen him by any means, but it was still a few steps up from the normal friendly brawl.

She flinched as Gray went flying into Gajeel and yet another fighter was added into the mix.

Thanks to everything that had happened, she had started to fear his ferocity… just a little. Despite her best efforts not to, she couldn't help but wonder how much of his violent nature would translate into other activities. Sure, their first time had happened with him under the influence of being in heat…. But how much of that had been him in heat and how much had simply been him?

It hadn't been very long since she had needed Porlyusica's assistance, and the memory of how much pain she'd been in was still pretty fresh in her mind. What if they just weren't compatible in bed? What if she never enjoyed it? What if it always hurt or he was always too rough? She loved him, but how long could they last if that was the case?

"If you keep chewing that fingernail, it's gonna come off." Cana said from next to her, and Lucy jumped at least a foot in the air. She hadn't known Cana was there…. Somehow the wine-toting fiend had snuck up on her.

"Cana! Jeez, don't scare me like that."

"Sorry, sorry." the card mage laughed and took a swig of her wine. "But it's not my fault you were so engrossed drooling over your new boyfriend that you didn't notice me sitting next to you."

Lucy blushed and huffed. "I wasn't drooling over him."

"No, it actually looked like you were worried about something." a new voice said from behind her, and Lucy squeaked and flinched in surprise for a second time.

"Oh, hey Mira." Cana greeted causally as Lucy recovered from her second scare.

"What is it with you two today…?" she grumbled, giving Mira the stink eye for scaring her.

The bartender just laughed. "Sorry Lucy."

"Oh never mind that. I wanna know why you're all freaked out. Is there trouble in paradise already?" Cana asked, butting in.

Lucy bit her lip. "I…no…it's nothing really."

"That doesn't sound like nothing."

"Mira's right. You're so damn obvious Lucy. Might as well fess up. What is it? Is Natsu not treating you right?"

"No! He's doing great! Really!"

"Are you sure about that? You seem to tense up a lot whenever anyone teases the two of you." Mira noted.

"Yeah. Especially when there's any kinda joke about the bedroom. Are you guys having problems there? I'm happy to give ya tips if ya need them." Lucy winced and Cana crowed. "I knew it! I'm right aren't I?"

"It's not like that…"

"Well what is it like then?"

"I don't…" she risked a glance at Natsu, not wanting to discuss her concerns where he could hear her. The last thing she wanted was to make him feel bad about what had happened.

Both women noted her distraction and shared a look.

"Hey, I have an idea. How about we have a sleepover? Just us girls. We can invite the other girls too."

"That's a great idea, Mira! We can have a night full of bubble baths, wine, chocolate, and girl talk."

"Mm-hm, and if anyone's having relationship problems it'll be a perfect excuse for us to all put our heads together and help them out. I know Erza and Jellal just got together…"

"Yeah, and Levy can bring some romance novels for reference."

"What do you think Lucy?"

They turned to her, and she blinked owlishly at them. This had come out of nowhere and she wasn't really sure how to respond. On the one hand, she could already predict how awkward and embarrassing it would be, but on the other hand… she really _could _use some advice and help. The sooner she could put these fears to rest, the better.

"Alright, let's do it." she agreed, already wondering if she was making a mistake.

After that, it was merely a matter of getting other girls on board.

…

Thus, around 7:00 that Saturday, Lucy found herself standing in front of Cana's door in the Fairy Hills dorm, wondering once again if she was making a mistake. Before she could change her mind though, the door whipped open to show a grinning Cana.

"Hey there Lucy, come on in, we've got plenty of space and snacks."

She hesitantly followed the boisterous card mage into the apartment. Her rooms were very spacious and lovely… perfect for a sleepover. The low table in the living room was piled high with junk food of both the sweet and salty varieties, and of course several kegs of wine stood at the ready in the corner. Pillows had been scattered all over the floor for people to sit on, and it looked like Lucy was the last to arrive because everyone else was already settled in.

"Hey Lu! Glad you came!" Levy said happily from her spot in the big overstuffed armchair.

"Hey Lev…"

"Alright! Let's get this party started!" Cana interrupted Lucy's somewhat weak greeting. "Everyone get a drink and come to the floor!"

Once they had all had complied, they started a drinking game – which basically consisted of one person asking the group a question, and anyone who refused to answer had to take a big gulp of their drink. It seemed pretty easy-going and relaxed, though Lucy knew it could turn sour very quickly depending on the questions, so she was a little nervous.

"Alright, who wants to start?"

"I will!" Mira offered, and everyone turned to her. After a moment of thinking, she said, "Let's start off with something simple. Who do you like? Romantically."

That really was easy, since most of them were already in relationships or were flirting around a relationship. Lucy, Juvia, and Erza all answered with their significant others, but Levy had a little harder time of it. After stammering around a bit, she finally softly admitted, "Gajeel…" and then blushed violently red.

"Ha, we all knew that already. No need to get embarrassed." Cana laughed, and then offered, "I like Bacchus."

"Really? Wow, well I guess that makes sense." Lucy said, at first surprised but quickly getting over it.

"And I like Laxus." Mira said with a smile, and everyone gaped at her. That one was really out of the wild blue.

"You like Laxus? Seriously?" Cana asked, also obviously shocked.

"Yep!"

"That's certainly a surprise." Erza stated, mirroring everyone's thoughts.

Mira just shrugged. "What can I say? He's my type. I have a soft spot for fixer-uppers."

There was a moment of silence and then everyone burst into laughter at Mira's description of Laxus… likely referring to his less than ideal personality. He'd definitely gotten better over the years, but he was still an ass sometimes.

Once the laughter tapered off, Levy asked, "So who's next? Should we just go counterclockwise around the circle?"

"Sounds good to me." Mira agreed, and so the turn passed to Erza.

She hummed and thought about it for a moment, then finally came up with, "What is the biggest complaint you have about your significant other, or the person that you mentioned in the previous question?"

Many of the answers were unsurprising. Levy's complaint about Gajeel was how big an ass he could be sometimes, and Mira's was basically the same, though she also emphasized Laxus's arrogance. Like them, Lucy had plenty of fodder for such a question, but she eventually settled on Natsu's impatience as her biggest pet peeve. Of course, Juvia refused to say anything bad about her 'beloved Gray' and took a big swallow of her drink, which surprised nobody. Cana amusingly said that Bacchus's competitive streak sometimes pissed her off – although it went unspoken that she probably only got pissed when she lost.

The biggest left-fielder was the questioner herself, who admitted that her main complaint about Jellal was how withdrawn he could sometimes be. She wanted him to open up more.

That sparked a round of conversation, and the game was put on hold as everyone offered suggestions.

"Have you told him that you want him to be more open with you?" Levy hesitantly asked, obviously not wanting to offend her.

"Yes, though not in so many words. Perhaps I should be more specific or forceful about it."

"Straightforward yes, but not forceful. I don't know him all that well, but he doesn't strike me as the sort of guy who'd respond well to being pushed. He would probably clam up more." Mira suggested.

Erza nodded in agreement. "True. I suppose I should simply tell him that I would really like for us to talk more freely. He's usually very good about listening to any requests I have."

"Well there you go, problem solved. To get him to talk freely – especially about sensitive stuff – you've gotta be more open too. You clam up pretty good when it comes to talking about your emotions too ya know." Cana observed and Erza flushed a little.

"You have a point."

And then it was Levy's turn to ask a question, and they let the matter slide for now.

"Um…" She paused for a second and flushed, then continued. "What is the most surprisingly erotic thing you've read in a romance novel or seen in a lacrima film. Like…something you never considered, or never thought would feel good…that sort of thing."

They all stared at her in shock. For her to be the first to ask a somewhat raunchy question was downright astonishing.

Before even trying to contemplate an answer, Lucy first asked, "How much have you had to drink exactly?"

Levy flushed a little more. "About one glass of wine."

"Ah…that makes sense."

They all nodded, their curiosity satisfied. Everyone knew that Levy was a legendary lightweight. One glass was definitely enough to make her more daring.

So then, they all started working on their answers. Mira didn't hesitate to offer, "I was surprised when I watched an erotic film that featured an electrical lacrima. They used it in all sorts of interesting ways."

"Oooh…and did that come before or after getting interested in a certain lighting dragon slayer?" Cana asked laughingly.

Mira chuckled as well. "I will admit that it was after, though I stumbled across it by accident. I wasn't looking for that specifically when I went to the movie shop."

Cana scoffed, seeming to doubt Mira's explanation, but the answer had passed to Juvia so she let it go.

As for the bluenette, she stated that she'd never read a romance novel or watched any raunchy lacrima movies. So, by consensus of the group, she had to take another swallow of her drink. She hadn't drunk much anyways, so it couldn't hurt.

Cana and Erza didn't disappoint though. The first freely divulged a juicy tidbit from a gay novel that she'd read where someone had dressed up as a dog with fuzzy ears, a butt-plug tail, a muzzle, a collar, and a leash. The second somewhat awkwardly admitted to recently reading a story that had contained some sort of BDSM scene where a particular type of gag struck her fancy.

Cana's answer was fairly surprising to all of them – though it was the scene itself that shocked them, not the fact that Cana would read something like that. Likewise, nobody was surprised to hear that Erza had read something containing BDSM. They'd all seen her go into 'Mistress Mode' on more than one occasion…. especially when she was drunk.

Then, when Lucy's turn rolled around, she flushed and grumbled, "I don't read many romance novels, and none of them have been particularly shocking. But I do remember that the first one I ever read was when I was fairly…innocent. So, basically everything in that book shocked me."

That got a good round of laughs from everyone, though she had to take a half gulp from her glass for being general and not getting specific. Then it was back to Levy, and she replied to her own question with, "I recently read a really cute fantasy love story involving a dragon and a princess, and I'd say the most surprising thing I've ever run into was his changed anatomy. Like, his penis was different, his tail was all sexed up, and they even had sex while flying. It was crazy."

Yep, Levy was on her way to fully drunk. No doubt about it. They all exchanged looks with raised eyebrows and smirks.

…

The game continued on for a while, with all of them ending up fairly tipsy. Levy had been cut off at a certain point, and Cana had very smartly watered down Erza's wine so she didn't end up drunk and enraged. Nobody wanted to mess with a drunk Erza… that was a good way to have a sleepover turn into an emergency room visit.

Once everyone was sufficiently relaxed enough, Cana made the executive decision to relocate their party to the women's baths of the Fairy Hills dorms. It was relatively late, so they'd likely have it all to themselves… though if anyone _was_ there, they would be welcome to join the party of course.

Thus, within twenty minutes, they were all nude and submerged in the massive soaking tub.

At that point, Mira took charge. "Alright ladies, it's girl-talk time. Whether it's complaints, stuff you want help on, or any kind of nefarious plans you want to make… now's the time to speak. Of course man-troubles are always a great topic of conversation."

She ended on a wink and Lucy rolled her eyes at the takeover mage's obvious hint, but she didn't have a chance to call Mira out on it because Erza had already taken the bait, much to Lucy's surprise.

"Well you've already helped me with one issue, but there is another…" the red-head stated, obviously talking about Jellal. "To put it simply, there's something I would like to try on him in the bedroom. It's something he often does to me, but whenever I go to do the same, he always makes some excuse or switches up our positions, or distracts me some other way, and I haven't had any luck with it."

"By any chance is it giving head?" Cana inquired bluntly.

Erza nodded, not even blushing. She was tipsy enough that she was past that, but thankfully still hadn't gone into 'Mistress Mode.' Cana was doing a good job managing her alcohol intake.

"Could be a control thing." the card mage said thoughtfully.

Mira followed with, "Or maybe a cleanliness thing? He could be concerned about smell or taste…have you tried it in the shower or right after a bath?"

"The thought had occurred to me, so yes I have."

"Then Cana's probably right. Is he more or less always the one in charge when it comes to sex?"

Erza thoughtfully tilted her head. "Now that you mention it… he generally is. But what can I do about it?"

"Maybe just tell him you want to be in control for once." Levy said boldly from her corner of the bath. She was utterly splayed out, still totally tipsy, but she'd sobered up just a hair from earlier.

"I might word it more along the lines of, 'I really want to be the one to give you pleasure tonight.' Or, 'Please let me pleasure you for a change.' Something a little more subtle without bringing control directly into the spotlight." Lucy suggested, flushing a bit and feeling awkward. This wasn't her forte at all – she didn't have as much experience as the others and hadn't read as many romance novels as Levy – but it sounded like something that might work.

"Why not tie him up?"

Everyone turned to give Juvia a surprised look. She stared back with a, '_why are you looking at me like that?_' sort of expression stamped across her face.

"What? It works. As long as he ends up liking it anyways." she said defensively, and Lucy got the distinct feeling that Gray had been at the receiving end of what sounded almost like nonconsensual activities. Poor guy. Then again, he seemed happy to be with her now, so maybe there was something to be said for Juvia's tactics.

"Whether you tie him up or not, you should probably practice on a banana or a cucumber about his size and shape first. It'll especially help you with learning how to manage your teeth properly. One little nick can turn a good blowjob into a bad one." Cana suggested seriously.

Erza nodded thoughtfully. "That is an excellent point… and I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea of restraining him, but perhaps I should try Lucy's suggestion first…"

As she trailed off, obviously putting some serious consideration into everything they'd said, Mira giggled and said, "You know… we should probably have another sleepover in a week or two so we can get a progress report."

"That's actually a good idea, especially if we have _ongoing cases_." Levy said the last words with a funny accent, obviously trying to imitate a detective.

They all laughed at her drunken humor, and then stated their own interest in making 'Girl's Night' a regular thing.

"Maybe we could even work on getting me and Gajeel together…." Levy sighed almost absentmindedly, as if she was simply speaking her thoughts out loud. She probably hadn't actually meant to say it.

That theory was proven correct when everyone responded and she reacted with shock. "Shoot, did I say that out loud?"

"Yes you did and no takebacksies." Mira replied with an evil grin.

Poor Levy was then inundated with all sorts of ideas and plots to get Gajeel.

There were some good ones, like Mira's comment that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach. Lucy worked off that concept and suggested that Levy could make lots of food and accumulate a bunch of leftovers, then invite Gajeel to her home to help her dispose of them. It was the perfect excuse to get him into her apartment… or it could even be turned into a picnic if she wanted to make it more like a date.

The alternative was to go out with him a lot more, and Erza suggested that Levy take more missions with Gajeel to get closer to him. That idea inspired Mira, and she suggested that Levy could even make a special mission just for Gajeel and put it on the mission board – with the reward being a heap of iron to make sure he was the one who took it.

When Levy asked, "What kind of special mission?" Mira responded with, "Oh you know, something like, 'escort me to a ball or festival,' if there's one coming up. Or, 'be my bodyguard,' if there's something moderately dangerous you want to do. Or even, 'teach me the basics of hand to hand combat.' … You know, something like that."

Those were all surprisingly good ideas, and Lucy was a little jealous she hadn't thought of them. The reward Mira had suggested was also perfect, because Levy could create iron out of nothing with her solid script magic.

Of course, not all the ideas were great. There were definitely some not so good ones – like Cana's suggestion to sedate him, tie him up, and then fuck his brains out. Lucy wasn't sure if Cana had been inspired by Juvia, or if the two just shared some very shady tendencies. Either was equally possible. As for the water mage, she had suggested that Levy cook for him and wear an apron – and nothing else – when they had all been throwing food ideas around.

Eventually though, everyone ran out of suggestions – even Cana's pervy ones – and Levy was allowed to stew in silence. It probably helped her case when she threw Lucy under the bus by saying, "Alright, alright, enough about me. How about Lucy? We all know she's got some big problem she hasn't told us about."

"Gee, thanks for that Levy." she groused sourly as everyone turned their attention to her.

"She's right though Lucy. We're all benefiting from this, but you know good and well that the whole reason we cooked up this sleepover was to finally get it out of you." Cana replied, sipping on her wine.

She didn't have a good comeback to that, since she had indeed known that this would happen. With a sigh, she grumbled and sunk under the water up to her nose, scowling at everyone over the water level.

"We know it has to do with sex… are you and Natsu having trouble there?" Mira cajoled, trying to get her going.

"Does it have anything to do with Natsu going into heat?" Levy asked, and everyone else's head whipped around to stare at the bluenette. Lucy just glared.

"Natsu went into heat?" Juvia asked, at the same time that Cana burst out with, "Wait, what?!" and Erza demanded, "What happened?!"

Levy grimaced. "Oops, I probably shouldn't have said that."

"No, you very much should have. I want details now." Cana countered.

When Levy refused to give up anything else, everyone turned on Lucy.

"Okay, spill."

She finally resurfaced, and mumbled, "Long story short, he went and drank some stupid potion that was supposed to increase his fire power. But on dragon slayers, stuff like that overstimulates them and can do bunches of crazy stuff… like putting them into heat, which is what happened to Natsu. Levy knows about it because we went to the library to try and figure out what was going on, and she helped us research it."

"Ooooh, is that the day you two came in and Natsu was wrapped around you? You said he wasn't feeling well." Mira said with an 'ah ha' light in her eyes.

"Yep, that's what was going on."

"So what happened?" Levy asked, obviously curious about what had transpired after they'd told her goodbye that day.

"Um…mostly he was just super cuddly…"

Cana snorted dismissively. "Oh come on, you can't think we'll buy that. There has to be more than that."

"Well, yeah… later on, things sort of spiraled out of control… It wasn't his fault though!" she quickly added, concerned especially about Erza's reaction. "He did his very best to control himself."

The redhead looked all fired up, like she might go on the warpath at any moment. "Did he hurt you Lucy?"

Thankfully Cana saw the approaching problem and headed it off. "You know Natsu would never intentionally hurt Lucy. If he did, then it was an accident, and he was probably devastated."

There was a tense moment and then Erza relaxed. "True."

When they turned back to Lucy, she bit her lip and hesitated. "Look, guys, we've both been through a lot and the last thing I want to do is complicate things. So if I do tell you anything, everyone has to promise to keep it to themselves and not go after Natsu or something. Cana's right, he would never hurt me intentionally, and what happened nearly broke him. He's already suffered for it plenty."

Most of her request was directed at Erza, who sighed and then bowed. "If that's truly what you want, then I promise to keep this to myself."

Everyone else followed suit. Only then did Lucy take a deep breath and get started on the story.

"I won't go into details, but suffice it to say that he did lose control in the end, and we did… well, we had sex. I protested a lot at first, mainly because I was worried about how it would affect our friendship, but I did give him permission to actually… do it."

"Was it because it felt so good?" Mira said with a giggle and a smirk.

"No, not really. It was more of an emotional thing. And the sex part definitely didn't feel good. It, uh…it hurt pretty bad actually."

Mira sympathetically asked, "Was it your first time?"

"Yeah."

"That's normal for it to hurt then." Cana said almost dismissively, though not without empathy.

"Well, sure, I know that. But this wasn't normal. I wasn't really… uh, _ready_ if you know what I mean … and I was pretty nervous, so…"

Everyone winced.

"Ouch, Lu, that must have really hurt."

"Yeah. If you were dry and tensed up, that would definitely make things a lot worse." Cana agreed with Levy, looking significantly sorrier for her.

Juvia added, "And he was in heat, so he probably wasn't too gentle right?"

Lucy winced. "He tried his best, but…yeah there were a few parts where it got a little rough despite his best efforts. Afterwards, he was completely horrified."

"What happened then?" Levy softly asked, looking like she almost didn't want to know.

"He ran off…"

"He did what?! How could he just leave you like that after what happened?!" Erza exploded, once again looking furious.

"He had to! To protect me!"

The redhead clammed up with confusion, though she was still visibly steaming. "Please explain."

"If he'd stayed, he wouldn't have been able to keep himself from doing it again. He was still in heat. So running as far away from me as possible was the only thing he could do to keep himself from hurting me. He also sent Porlyusica to check on me."

At that, Erza finally deflated back to normal. "I see. My apologies for overreacting."

"It's fine. But anyways, so yeah…that's what happened."

"Well you both ended up together in the end, so it all turned out well." Levy sighed, sounding wistful.

Cana huffed. "Sure, but I bet you're a little scared of sex now, since you had such a crappy first experience. Have you guys done anything since you got together?"

"Um, no…we haven't even gone on a date yet. We've been taking it kind of slow."

"Really? I would have thought Natsu would be impossible to hold off. He's so impatient and eager." Juvia mused.

"He's likely still upset about what happened." Erza pointed out.

"Exactly, and he might even be under the impression that sex always hurts the woman… or at least doesn't know how to make it not hurt." Mira suggested.

Cana laughingly added, "Yeah, and even if he did know what the problem was, he probably doesn't know the first thing about arousing a woman!"

As the others chuckled, Lucy hesitated but then finally got up the courage to ask one of the questions that had been bothering her. "Um…quick question…if I'm aroused enough, you're sure it won't hurt? Even if…the sex is rough? I mean, I know he was in heat and everything but…he's a pretty violent person. I don't know what normal sex with him would be like."

"You can always teach him how to be gentle, but that may take some time." Mira offered, and Cana tacked on, "As long as you're really, really aroused it should be just fine even if he is rough. You can always use extra lube just to make sure though."

"Jellal can be quite rough from time to time, and I generally find it very pleasurable." Erza assured.

"Make sure to tell him what you like." Juvia suggested. "Gray always wants me to let him know if something feels good or not."

"Was that before or after you tied him up?" Mira asked jokingly.

"After. I had to convince him to finally admit his feelings for me first."

There was a round of laughs, and then Cana smirked at Lucy. "Juvia's got a good point though, make sure he knows what you like. Speaking of, you _do_ know what you like, right?"

"What do you mean? I've only had sex the one time, how would I know what I like just from that?"

"By masturbating of course. I assume you do that?"

She flushed. "Well sure, but it's a lot different with someone else."

"But if you know what feels good, you can even show him what you like." Mira pointed out, much to Lucy's embarrassment.

"It is true though that there's still a big learning curve. There are so many things that you can do with a partner but can't really do by yourself. It even feels different when they do the things you _can_ do by yourself."

"Exactly! I can't kiss my own neck for example." Lucy agreed with Erza, grateful that someone understood.

"But you can brush your fingers over your neck to see if it's sensitive." Juvia pointed out thoughtfully.

"Hm…" Levy hummed, actually doing the thing Juvia suggested and trailing her fingers over her neck. "That is kinda nice. I'm surprised."

"Really?" Lucy asked and reached up to do the same. Her fingers were a little wrinkly from the water, so they felt a little rough as they brushed over her skin, but it did feel surprisingly pleasant. "Oh yeah, that does feel good."

Juvia also rubbed her fingers up her neck and then stopped at a spot right below her ear. "Personally, this is my most sensitive spot on my neck, and I like it when Gray kisses me there."

"Really? I've always preferred the back of my neck…" Mira mused.

Thinking back on it, Lucy did have to admit that it had felt really good when Natsu had nuzzled and kissed her neck… so that was at least one thing she could tell him. She could also tell him how she liked her breasts touched from masturbatory experience… but there was still one problem with what they were suggesting. She generally got off in the shower or tub with either the shower head or the facet. She'd never tried masturbating with her fingers, so she didn't have a clue what to tell Natsu about that part of her body, and she doubted he could gain much information from watching her. It wasn't like he could replicate a stream of water with any part of his body.

That aside, even if they couldn't figure out how to make her orgasm without a bathroom appliance, she could still enjoy sex with him, and that was the important thing. She was definitely starting to feel more optimistic about things after talking about it with everyone. Probably what helped the most was getting the assurance that even if he was a bit rough, as long as she was aroused enough and had enough lube, things should be fine.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_This behavior was nothing new though. For the past couple of weeks that they'd been dating, his personal bubble had apparently inflated to a shocking size. Even the few times they'd kissed – which had all been amazingly short and uneventful so far – he had kept what seemed like an unnecessary amount of space between their bodies. It had gotten to the point where she was starting to become quite concerned._

_…_

_Meanwhile, Natsu was having a rough time trying to ignore the feel of Lucy's soft body pressed up against him. He'd been doing a really good job of keeping his distance the past couple of weeks, and so far those dumb leftover mating instincts had been pretty controllable. Right now though, not so much. It was impossible to ignore how close she was, and he ended up having to hold his breath and silently yell at the guy lowering them to hurry the fuck up._


	13. CH 13: Fun and Cold Showers

**Author's Note: **

Alright! It's Sunday! And that means I get to throw a brand new chapter up on here. ;D

As always, a HUGE thanks to all my FANTASTIC reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to: illleashya, SistershoOK, Glitterybugs, aliciacevbra, valerioux, NebelTeddyBear, Andria Justus Haynie, waiting-for-you443, Freckles, Lkityan02, iamanimefreak13, Lucinda, dani-yell10, Katnibal94, stranger1999, FireShifter, alleycat1138, Starstruck-MJ, nightfall252524, , Heavenlyeclipse, Konasuki Profitt, Karmitara, NaLuAlways26, CrazyZaika, Miss Darkqueen, PandoraJ, Leomae2.0, quidditchChick6, and Catleana! You're all superstars! :D

Also, extra kudos to all of you who picked up on my little 'Celestial Dragon' easter egg. ;D

Alrighty! On with the show! I know you're all eager to see what happens next. ;D And be sure to check out the sneak peek of next chapter at the end.

* * *

"Natsu! Don't do that! You're going to get…you're _**getting**_ the lines tangled up! Hey! Are you listening to me?!"

Currently, Lucy found herself dangling from a ridiculously tall indoor rock-climbing wall while her boyfriend zigzagged all over the place and got the lines attached to their harnesses completely tangled. She didn't even know how he'd managed it, aside from simply having magical abilities to make a mess like no one else could.

By this point, she wasn't even sure how they were going to get down… but she doggedly kept on climbing up because it seemed like the thing to do. If she were smarter, she might have started heading back to the ground by now, but she had the burning desire to reach Natsu – who was laughing at her from what felt like miles ahead up the wall. She wanted to smack him for being such an impulsive, over excitable, hyper, crazy person.

"Natsu! Get back down here and climb next to me! What's the point of being on a date if I'm just staring at your ass and can't even talk to you?!"

A burst of laughter heralded his response, and he quickly trapezed his way down the wall to park next to her. "What's wrong with staring at my ass? You're my girlfriend now, you can do it as much as ya want."

She flushed, not meaning it that way – which he very well knew. He was just being an ass in a different way now. "You know I didn't mean it like that. I was talking about how much higher up the wall you were. You were leaving me in the dust."

"It's not my fault you're so slow."

"If you weren't crawling all over my lines, maybe I could pick up the pace! But you've nearly knocked me off the wall at least five times by now."

"It's only been three."

"Oh, I'm sorry. What a horrible mistake on my part. You've only nearly _knocked me clean off a fifty-foot_ _wall_ _**three **_times."

He completely ignored her and changed the subject. "Come on, stop talking and start climbing! I wanna get to the top already!"

"You've already been to the top plenty. I vote we rappel down."

"But you haven't reached the top yet!"

"I don't need to! I'm perfectly fine getting almost there. I'm tired and hungry Natsu." she complained, throwing a good whine into the mix to get him going.

He heaved a big sigh and finally gave in. "Alright, fine. If you're gonna be that way about it…. But I'm gonna actually climb down instead of using the lines."

"Fine with me. You'll probably get there faster than I will." she grumbled.

However, when he started to descend she felt a tug on her own line, and before she could yelp a warning he'd tugged her off the wall. Her line went taut immediately of course and caught her, but the whole experience was quite jarring as she went from wall climbing to swinging in the air by her harness. It was made even more bumpy when her fall yanked on Natsu's lines – which were indeed now thoroughly tangled with hers and were the reason for her fall in the first place – and he was also yanked off the wall. They ended up plastered together dangling from the ropes.

"See, I told you that you were tangling the ropes." she grumbled into his chest – where her nose was currently pressed.

He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back as far as their weight and the ropes would allow. "Oops?" he offered by way of apology, and she huffed at him in irritation as he shot her an awkward smile.

His eyes darted all over her face, neck, and chest and then glanced away as he tensed up a bit. He took a large gulp of air and then swallowed so thickly she thought he'd better drink some water as soon as they got to the ground – which thankfully still seemed to be happening fairly smoothly despite their tangled lines. The assistants below were apparently able to manipulate the ropes enough to slowly lower them, though she clearly heard them laughing - probably at them - as they did so.

And the whole way down, Natsu was rigid and kept her pushed back as far as he could. He also seemed to be holding his breath for most of the time spent airborne.

This behavior was nothing new though. For the past couple of weeks that they'd been dating, his personal bubble had apparently inflated to a shocking size. Even the few times they'd kissed – which had all been amazingly short and uneventful so far – he had kept what seemed like an unnecessary amount of space between their bodies. It had gotten to the point where she was starting to become quite concerned.

…

Meanwhile, Natsu was having a rough time trying to ignore the feel of Lucy's soft body pressed up against him. He'd been doing a really good job of keeping his distance the past couple of weeks, and so far those dumb leftover mating instincts had been pretty controllable. Right now though, not so much. It was impossible to ignore how close she was, and he ended up having to hold his breath and silently yell at the guy lowering them to hurry the fuck up.

Heat built up in his gut and he closed his eyes, doing his best to shove it back down where it should be. That damn mating urge was rearing its ugly head and started whispering things like, '_fuck her already_!' and, '_if you don't take her, you're gonna explode_.' None of that helped him to stay calm, and by the time they finally reached the ground, he was desperate to put some space between them before he lost control and did something unforgivable again.

He shed the harness and ripped free of the ropes within seconds, ignoring Lucy yelling at him to, "Let the technician do it! You're going to break something and we'll have to pay for it!"

Somehow, he didn't actually break anything, so she didn't have anything to complain about.

"You worry way too much, Luce." he hummed as they walked to the next attraction, stopping by a kiosk to grab a snack on the way. And for some reason Lucy insisted he drink some water…

"No, I worry just enough. It was sheer luck that you didn't break anything this time." she grumbled back, and he couldn't keep his laugh quiet. She was too damn cute when she got all grumpy.

"Okay Weirdo."

She huffed some more and sulked until they got to the next booth full of harnesses. This one was in front of a giant jungle-gym obstacle course thing mostly composed of stuff way up high in the air. All sorts of rope bridges, platforms, and things to climb on hung above them, and a rail ran over it all so that you could be locked into a harness and wouldn't fall. This time, Natsu refused to be strapped into another of those death traps, 'cause it hadn't turned out too well last time.

This harness was different, it had a lacrima beam coming from it that was literally just made of light unless the person attached to it fell – then it'd get solid and keep them from falling – but he still didn't really wanna mess with it.

He had to sign some piece of paper saying he wouldn't complain if he got his ass hurt while doing it, but then they let him into the fun looking place without a harness.

"Natsu! Wait for me!"

He glanced back to see Lucy still getting rigged with belts and shit, and he forced himself to a stop on the first platform to wait for her. This was a date after all, and even though he had to keep a little distance between them, he still wanted to spend it with her. So, he plopped down cross-legged on the wooden perch and watched as she started climbing up the rope net-ladder-thing that led up to where he was at.

She wasn't as strong as him for sure, but she was still stronger than she gave herself credit for. Hell, she was probably stronger than most people in here, and this was an activity center aimed towards people that liked to get out and do strenuous stuff.

The entire way up, she proved him right by loudly fussing at him without getting out of breath once. Then, she got to the middle of the ladder where it separated from the start and finish in a weird way. The first and last bit of the rope ladder were connected to the wooden platforms, but the middle part was totally separated except for a single rope… kinda like a hammock. As soon as she got onto it, the thing flipped around and she was suddenly hanging upside down.

Natsu busted out laughing at her loud list of bad words that she sprayed everywhere.

"You doin' okay down there, Luce?"

"Oh shut up, you stupid dragon slayer!" she shouted back, which just made him laugh harder.

She kept climbing, hooking her calf or heel through the netting to keep her lower half attached to the bridge. Then, when she reached the upper half of the connected ladder, she very awkwardly climbed up onto it.

"Good job." he praised as she crawled up next to him and collapsed onto her back.

She was breathing heavy, but not panting, and she still had plenty of breath to snap, "Thanks for the warning by the way. What's up with that middle part?"

He chuckled. "Dunno, but it's fun! I like this place!"

It was true. He was having a blast, and the physical activity was helping to work out all that extra energy that he had bundled up inside lately thanks to the mating urges he was ignoring.

"Yeah…I guess it was kind of fun. It was certainly a surprise."

"That's the spirit! Let's keep going!"

With a groan she got herself up and then eyeballed the different paths branching off from the first platform. There were three: a tightrope bridge that led to a giant ball, a rope ladder like the one they'd just come up that lead to another platform, and a pole going up to a platform directly above them.

"Let's do this one. That thing over there looks interesting." Lucy pointed towards the big ball thing that Natsu had already noted.

He let her lead the way and then did his best not to bounce the tightrope around too much as he stepped on too. There were two ropes about belly level that they could hold onto, but none of the ropes were attached to each other and they weren't really tight. So, everything wobbled as soon as he stepped on, and Lucy ended up bobbing and almost lost her balance. When she tried to fix it with the side-ropes, they just splayed out wide, which tipped her forwards and gave him a great view of her butt.

She eeped and yelped, "Careful Natsu!"

"Yeah, yeah, I am."

She grumbled some more, but eventually got herself back upright and this time obviously kept her hands close to her body to keep the ropes from spreading apart again. Once she was steady, they stepped forwards together, and he also kept his hands tight to his body.

Like that, they wobbled their way to the end of the rope and then crawled into the hole on the side of the giant sphere thing. When they got inside, Natsu whistled, feeling pretty damn impressed. The inner walls were covered by loops that were obviously supposed to be handholds and footholds, and they went all the way up to the center of the ceiling where there was an opening up into a vertical chute. To get to it they'd have to scale the walls - which curved in of course, 'cause they were inside a ball - and at some point they'd either be upside down or just hanging by their arms.

"Ya think you can do this Luce? Or do ya wanna try a different route?" he asked, not sure if she wanted to attempt it.

"I'm good."

He turned when her voice came from higher up than he thought it should and was surprised to see her already more than halfway up the wall. With a grin, he hurried to join her and soon caught up. He was the first up into the chute – which he quickly discovered was deeply ridged to make it easy to climb.

He got up into it by freeing his heels from the loops and swinging his lower body around and up into the chute. Once his feet were propped on a ridge, he released one of his hands and reached in to grab the lip, then shimmied the rest of his body into the tube. He'd probably done it in the most difficult way possible, but it was the first thing that'd come to mind and it worked out in the end.

Lucy had a whole lot more trouble though, and hung at the lip of the tunnel for a long time peering up into it. She had her forearms and calves hooked through the loops to hold her there and could only free one hand to reach up into the tunnel and grab a ridge. When she stalled out again and looked distressed, Natsu wedged himself in tight and then reached down to help her out.

She glanced up at him when he latched onto her wrist.

"Let go, I'll pull ya up."

A look of relief washed over her face and she didn't hesitate to free her other arm and both legs so that she swung loose, now held up only by his grip on her one hand. As always, he was a little stunned and amazed by how willing she was to trust that he'd never drop her. Of course he wouldn't, but that was besides the point. Even though it had happened so many times, his heart still skipped a beat when she put her blind faith into him.

With a grunt, he heaved her up and she grabbed at the ridged wall with her free hand.

What he hadn't considered though, was how he was going to pull her up into the chute. He couldn't really move out of her way because he had to keep his wedged-in position. So, to get her high enough for her feet to reach the wall, he had to pull her up until she was lodged between his spread legs. She hooked an elbow over his right thigh to pull herself up, and her other hand was on the wall next to his left hip, which put her head right around his belly button and her chest way too close to his groin.

A shot of fire turned his insides liquid, and as soon as she was wedged in under her own power he squirmed up the tunnel and away from her at top speed. Thankfully, it took her a little longer to climb up the chute, so he had a minute to cool down. By the time she'd made it up, he was mostly under control again.

…

After the jungle gym thing, they'd investigated an adult bouncy castle room where Lucy had spent most of the time sitting or laying on the floor while Natsu bounced around like a Ping-Pong ball. She didn't have to put in any effort, because he bounced her around plenty. Besides that, staying in one place seemed the safest bet, otherwise she was worried about a midair collision with Natsu.

It was actually surprisingly fun though… and it was also something that she quickly realized she'd only be comfortable doing with Natsu. He could land inches from her and send her somersaulting through the air, but she fully trusted him to never actually land on top of her – or if he did, that he wouldn't hurt her. With anyone else, she would have probably spent the entire time worried about getting crushed.

Eventually though, he got tired of her doing nothing and engaged her in a bouncy battle – which was instigated when he picked her up and flung her across the room. That got her onto her feet, and they ended up in a shoving contest. Thankfully there were plush pillow-type things that could be held and used to bounce off each other – sort of like bouncy boxing gloves but were held like a ball – and she used that to push Natsu around. If she'd used her hands, like Natsu was doing, she probably would have broken a wrist with the force they were hitting each other. As it was, she ended up winded more than once, but thoroughly enjoyed herself.

"Take this!" she yelled, bouncing for momentum and then leaping into Natsu with her plush shield held in front of her.

He just laughed and blocked her with crossed forearms, and she recoiled off him like a ball against a wall. Thanks to the bouncy floor though, he also got thrown backwards and they both slammed into the springy walls, which just threw them back together. He met her with his palms and smacked her shield to push her back again, but this time she managed to get her feet under her before she bounced off the wall.

They'd been playing bumper cars for long enough that she was ready for a new tactic, so instead of launching herself at him, she wobbled over with slow careful steps. He just cocked his head and shot her a confused grin.

"Ya done already?" he asked when she finally reached him.

"Yeah…but first…"

Without warning she brought the shield down on his head and smacked him good, going with a time-honored pillow fight technique instead of the uncoordinated ping-ponging they'd been doing. He yelped and then laughed as he rubbed his head and squinted at her.

"Alright, ya got me good that time Luce."

She laughed and handed over the shield when he grabbed it from her. Then she turned to exit the bouncy room, thinking they'd agreed to be finished. However, a hefty swat from behind landed on her rump as she walked away, and she spun back around with an indignant squawk.

"Natsu!"

"You're the one who turned her back to an opponent. Not a smart move Luce." he said unrepentantly with an evil grin, waving around the offending shield.

She hmphed. "I thought we were done!"

"Sure, if you wanna."

Narrowing her eyes at him, she started heading to the exit again, but backed up to it this time to make sure her behind wasn't left unprotected. Her boyfriend got a real kick out of the maneuver and dissolved into a fit of snickers, which increased in volume when she promptly tripped over the threshold and tumbled out of the room on her ass.

He sauntered out after her and then stopped to stand over her and grin down at her. She glared up at him as she rubbed her butt, and then stood with a sulky huff.

…

After that, they'd tried out a couple of the outdoor activities, like the zipline and an obstacle course built out of haybales, tires, barrels, ropes, and all sorts of other random stuff. So, by the time evening finally rolled around, Lucy was definitely ready to get some food and then head home, take a bath, and hit the bed.

On the way to the train station, they stopped for a quick bite to eat, and thankfully Natsu had an hour to digest as they waited at the station for the next available train… otherwise, Lucy's legs would have been in some serious danger.

An hour was more than enough time for him to fully digest – a fact she knew through experience – but he still grumbled and griped as they got onto the train headed for Magnolia. In response, Lucy pointed out that it would only be an hourlong ride – and with a combination of cajoling, complaining that she was too tired to walk, and threatening to make him piggyback her the whole way home if he didn't get on the train, he finally conceded.

So now they were sitting in a compartment with his head in her lap and her fingers in his hair as they trundled along. As she smoothed his hair off his face, she wondered not for the first time why he only allowed this sort of contact now when transportation was involved. One would think that after becoming romantically involved, their touching would increase… not decrease.

Her lips ended up between her teeth as she grew more anxious about what she'd planned for tonight.

Yesterday had been another sleepover, and amongst all the different topics that had been brought up, she'd mentioned that nothing had happened between her and Natsu. When the girls had asked for details, she had admitted that they'd kissed a few times, but the experiences had been awkward and quick.

At the memory of what had happened next, Lucy flushed. She'd made the mistake of saying that she was starting to think she just didn't like kissing… and Cana had taken it as some kind of challenge to prove her wrong. That woman had no shame. Really, she reminded Lucy a lot of Natsu in that way – they both just went and did whatever they wanted without worrying about the consequences. Still, she'd never expected Cana to actually kiss her to make a point….

The card mage had said, "Just pretend I'm Natsu." And then she had proceeded to thoroughly show Lucy that kissing could be very nice indeed… downright great in fact. Perhaps she shouldn't have been so surprised that Cana would be an amazing kisser, since she was the most experienced out of all of them, but it had still come as a shock. Or maybe the real shock had been how much she'd enjoyed it despite herself. Oh sure, it had been awkward as hell since it was Cana, but the physical sensations had still felt amazingly good… especially when she'd followed Cana's advice and pretended she was Natsu.

After showing her what a good kiss felt like, Cana had proceeded to teach her how to do it, as well as how to teach someone else to kiss…. and now Lucy was very eager to put all the tips she'd been given to the test. She wanted more than what she and Natsu had had up to this point. She wanted to actually kiss him and make some progress on their physical relationship.

So, when they finally got home, she left Natsu on the couch to finish recovering from his motion sickness and then hurried through her nighttime routine – including a very quick shower. This was the perfect moment to put her plan into action, and she didn't want to waste any time. Happy would be spending the night with Carla and Wendy, so it was just the two of them alone in her apartment.

She was both anxious and excited as she exited the bathroom and walked over to sit next to Natsu, who was now finishing up a snack and had obviously recovered completely from his queasiness.

"Yo. You done?" he asked as he licked his fingers clean of whatever he'd been eating. She supposed if everything went the way she wanted, she'd probably be tasting it too. Hopefully it wasn't anything nasty like onions or garlic.

"Yeah…"

"So what's up? You headed to bed now?" He glanced at the clock, which did read the time she generally tucked in. But she had other things in mind.

"Not yet…um…I'd like to try something, if that's okay with you."

"Sure. What?"

He turned to sit facing her, his knee bent and resting on the couch while the other dangled off the edge. That worked just fine for her, and she assumed a similar position and scooted forwards until her knee brushed his.

"So…you know that I have a sleepover with the girls every other weekend right? Well, we talk about a lot of stuff. And… sometimes interesting things come up. Uh, yesterday, we sort of got onto the topic of kissing…and…I'd like to try some of the stuff I learned. With you."

He blinked. "So you wanna kiss?"

"Yeah, but different from what we've been doing. I want to take our time with it."

His lips pursed and there was a cautious but curious look in his eyes. "Okay, I guess we could try that. Sounds interesting."

"Great, then um…" she leaned forwards awkwardly, not really sure how to go about initiating the kiss.

He leaned forwards as well until their faces were close, though there were still a couple of feet between their torsos. Then, it was up to her, and she struggled to dredge up all the tips Cana had given her before her mind fried under tension.

"Right…so, first…" she mumbled to herself, and brought her hands up to rest on either side of Natsu's face, flushing a little as she did so. Cana said this was a good way to increase intimacy, as well as make sure he didn't pull back before she was ready. The next step would be to move her hands up into his hair, but that was after they started kissing.

Then she licked her lips to moisten them, took a shaky breath, and leaned forwards the last couple of inches to brush her lips over Natsu's. It was just a test, and she pulled back a few seconds later to gauge his response. Weirdly enough, despite being as brief as the other kisses they'd shared, this one had felt different. There was some extra tension in the air, maybe anticipation that there would be more to come. It was similar to their first kiss, where her stomach had felt like it was tied into knots with nerves and excitement. The more kisses they'd shared, the less she had experienced that, since she had come to expect the slightly rough brief peck and had gotten used to it.

He seemed to be feeling the same thing, because when she pulled back his eyes were glittering a little more than usual and he seemed more intrigued than before. Once she had determined he was okay with it, she ducked back in for a longer peck, letting her lips stay against his for at least ten seconds… not that she was counting.

Despite still being brief, it was longer than any lip-to-lip contact they'd had before, so she was able to perceive things she hadn't with their previous brief pecks. For instance, she noted that his lips were rougher than Cana's, more chapped, and they were also a lot hotter. However, his mouth felt too firm – probably because he was puckering too much – so, after a moment, she pulled back again and watched as his mouth quickly relaxed to its normal state.

"Relax your lips. It feels like I'm kissing someone that just ate a lemon." she gently teased.

"Oh, alright." He blinked, as if the request surprised him. "But isn't that how you're supposed to kiss?"

"Sure…if you're kissing a kid on the forehead. But this is a different kind of kiss and it requires more than just puckering. Here, relax your mouth and I'll show you what I mean, then you try. 'Kay?"

He nodded slightly, and when he was done she ducked back in to kiss his now soft mouth. Kissing him this time felt totally different and so much better than before. When her lips pressed to his, she felt them give under the pressure and was surprised by how soft they were – not texturally, they were still chapped – but their plushness was hugely different.

Once connected, she gently pursed her lips just a little, and then relaxed, pursed and then relaxed, over and over just like Cana had showed her. She varied her force, pressing her lips to his more firmly when she pursed and pulling back just a little when she softened her lips, which gave the kiss that push and pull feel to it that she remembered. For this first little kiss, she kept her lips closed, figuring it would be easier for Natsu to try imitating.

When she pulled back, her lips were left feeling pleasantly hot and a little tingly from his slightly dry, overly heated mouth. Her breathing had also picked up, and it took her a second longer than normal to reopen her eyes and see how he had responded. Personally, it had felt pretty good to her… though it was also probably extra exciting simply because it was their first real kiss.

His eyes opened a hair after hers and seemed a tiny bit fuzzy and dark, which she hoped meant that he'd liked the kiss.

After clearing her throat, she whispered, "So? How was that in comparison?"

He licked his lips and blinked. "Good…. Really good."

She was a little surprised by the slight rasp in his voice and it sent a little shiver down her spine.

Before she could ask if he wanted to give it a go, his eyes darted down to her mouth and he licked his lips again. "Can I try now?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure."

He was leaning in almost while she was saying the last word and she had to cut it off short. His lips pressed to hers a little hard, but he eased up on the pressure a second later as if reminding himself that wasn't how to do it. After a moment of stillness, his lips started moving like hers had, pressing close and then pulling back, over and over until he'd actually gotten a rhythm going.

Once he seemed a little more comfortable with it, she responded, moving her lips against his gently.

His rhythm stuttered as if she'd surprised him, and then he eagerly restarted… a little too eagerly in fact. He got a little too rough, so Lucy did what Cana had suggested in such a situation and pulled back just a bit, though she made sure to keep kissing him so he would know she was still okay with that. But by leaning back a little, it naturally reduced the pressure.

She had to do that a couple of times before he seemed to get the memo.

Separating their lips just enough to talk, he mumbled, "Am I doing something wrong? You keep pulling away."

"Sometimes you're a little rough. When I pull back, it just means to lighten your pressure a little."

"_Oooh_…that makes sense." he breathed against her mouth, then gave her a little kiss before seeming to think of something else. "So I guess if you press closer, it means you want more?"

She nodded just a little, letting their noses rub. "That's the idea. And if you pulled away, I'd know I was getting too rough."

He huffed a laugh, which puffed over her face. "Like that'd ever happen."

"Mm." she hummed her agreement, then murmured, "Now I want to add something new to it… so I'll kiss you again."

"There's more to it?"

"Well yeah, of course."

After a brief chuckle, she closed the distance between their lips again. This time, she started the same, but quickly began parting her lips to mold them better to his. By parting them she was also able to drastically increase the range of motion in her kissing, till it was almost like she was whispering words against his lips. The bonus to that – as Cana had put it – was that the more movement you can get with your lips, the better you can rub them against your partner's.

It was true… by parting her lips, she could explore his mouth in a whole new way, and she quickly found several things that felt very good. In the end, she wound up doing something similar to before and got a rhythm going that felt good with pressure and lip movement. Generally, she parted her lips a bit when she pressed closer to him and then closed them as she gently pursed… each time trying for slightly different motions and contact.

He didn't even wait this time for her to pull back, he simply responded in kind after she'd done it long enough for him to get the idea. With him doing the same sort of thing, Lucy quickly found herself in what felt like a conversation, or a dance…something with giving and taking and pushing and pulling.

Often one lip would end up between the other's for a short time, and at one point when Natsu's bottom lip was between hers, she decided to try gently sucking on it for a second. He grunted and nipped her top lip in retaliation, which made her squeak and let him go. Then he sucked on her bottom lip a little, which surprisingly felt pretty good, though she did pull back when he got a little too into it.

By this point, she was so into the kiss that she didn't even consider pulling back to ask permission for the next step and instead just went for it. Her tongue sneaked out and poked between his lips, which he immediately noticed judging by the way he froze. When he didn't pull away, she prodded at him with her tongue some more but came to a stop when she ran into his teeth.

It took a little convincing, but eventually he got the idea and - with a small surprised sound in his throat that was way cuter and hotter than it should be - he opened up enough for her tongue to enter. Of course Natsu, being Natsu, leapt on board a little too eagerly and his jaws suddenly opened too wide as his tongue came out to play too – which really meant that he was no longer kissing her, so much as eating the lower half of her face. That definitely had her pulling back and wiping her nose and chin free of slobber.

His questioning eyes clearly said, '_what did I do wrong this time_?' and before he could say the words she was already answering him. "I'm glad you're enthusiastic about trying tongue kissing… but it's still kissing. Try and keep your lips here…. not here." The first '_here_' was indicated by tapping her lips with her fingers, and at the second she widened the gap between her fingers and tapped her nose and chin to get the idea across.

His eyes widened and he made a small 'o' with his mouth.

When she leaned back in to reseal her mouth over his, he actually did a fairly good job of following her instructions. Then came the problem of wrangling his tongue – which had gotten totally out of control – back into the semblance of a normal tongue. She made her point with a well-placed nip that was accompanied by a displeased grunt so he knew that she wasn't play-nipping him. He immediately froze and let her take charge for a while, and she was able to demonstrate what she liked by gently and slowly moving her tongue around his mouth… mostly focusing on his tongue. Once she'd set up a slow sliding rhythm of her tongue against his, he gingerly started to respond again, trying to mimic her this time instead of running wild with the idea.

After kissing who-knew-how-long, they separated with a gasp, their foreheads pressing together as they panted in each other's faces.

"So…how exactly did you learn all that stuff again?" Natsu huffed after a while with a small chuckle in his tone.

"Um…well…Cana sort of…demonstrated." Lucy replied with equally heavy breaths.

"Really?" he laughed. "Remind me to get her some good wine. 'Cause _damn_…"

"So you liked it?"

He snorted. "What kinda stupid question is that? Actually, can we do it some more?"

"Sure." she agreed, and was still laughing when he locked their lips again.

It was even better this time around, since they quickly settled into the rhythm they'd started getting into last time. However, it _was _still a little bumpy from time to time with them trying to figure out how to work both lips and tongues at the same time. It seemed like what worked best – at least at first– was to just lip-lock when tongues were involved and then go back to moving their lips against each other when the kiss wasn't french. And eventually, they switched back and forth enough that the two sort of ended up meshing together.

It was hot thanks to Natsu's insane body temp – which seemed to have gone even higher – and humid from their breath, and probably a little too wet, but it was damn amazing. Her fingers ended up in his hair at some point without even thinking about it, and she discovered he really liked it when she tugged at the pink strands and scratched at his scalp a little. Meanwhile, one of his hands ended up on her knee and the other cupped her shoulder, pulling her closer as he slanted his lips over hers repeatedly.

It felt amazing and she never wanted to stop. Actually, she wanted to get closer to him, and that space between their bodies got more and more frustrating. However, when she scooched closer, it seemed to trigger some kind of abort mechanism in him, because he suddenly used his hand on her shoulder to shove her back almost roughly.

They separated with a gasp and Natsu lunged backwards away from her, panting harder than she thought he should be.

"Natsu, what…? Are you okay?" she asked while reaching towards him.

"Don't!" he snapped, his hand intercepting hers and grapping her wrist to keep her from touching him. "Stay back…just…give me a minute…"

His eyes glanced at her for half a second, and the burning gold depths instantly made her freeze in her tracks. She'd seen a look like that before, but it had been a lot less human then.

After a long moment, he finally breathed a deep sigh, and she could see him visibly relax and go back to normal. Only then did she risk moving and pulled her hand back.

"What just happened?"

"Um…well…" He grimaced and scrubbed his fingers through his already very messy hair. "I kinda still have some, ah… mating instincts that I've been keeping under wraps… so… yeah…"

"Wait, I thought you were completely over being in heat?!"

"Yeah, I'm definitely not in heat anymore. But, um…we didn't really…_finish_ when I…you know. Uh…usually there would have been a lot _more_…and we stopped after the first time…so…"

Lucy had never seen Natsu look so uncomfortable as he did right now. He seemed worried, embarrassed, ashamed, and just downright awkward - as was shown by the stilted way he was trying to explain the situation. He was stumbling around his words so much it took her a while to figure out what he was getting at.

"So, let me get this straight. Are you saying that when a dragon slayer goes into heat, there's generally a lot more…er…sex involved?" she asked, flushing a little.

He nodded, glancing off to the side and looking even more uncomfortable.

"But…you aren't in heat anymore right? So why would that still be affecting you?"

"Since we didn't…do it enough…my instincts are still telling me that I didn't properly claim you as my mate."

She absorbed that information for a moment, and then gathered up her courage to ask the obvious question. "Alright. And what does that mean exactly?"

"It means I have to keep some space between us, or I might lose control of those instincts…and I'd go into a mating frenzy."

That's what she was afraid of. The memory of that night flashed through her mind's eye for a second before she put it away again. It hadn't been all bad, but it had been distressing enough that she didn't want a repeat performance.

Without thinking about it, she summarized her thoughts dryly. "So if you get too aroused, you'll lose control and fuck me over and over whether I'm on board with it or not. Does that about sum it up?"

His eyes flickered to gold for a second and he tensed and grimaced. "Uh, yeah…maybe don't say things like that… 'cause…"

Okay, so Natsu liked dirty talk. Good to know so she could avoid it for the time being – not that she'd been intending to dirty talk, she was just fed up with it and being blunt. Still, her belly tightened and she had to try and think about non-sexual things to keep her mind on track, because the discovery was surprisingly distracting.

After a moment, she had to chuckle, and when Natsu sent her a questioning glance she said, "You know…I've noticed how you were keeping extra space between us. I'd actually started to think that maybe it was because you didn't want me like that unless you were in heat. Guess I was wrong."

"_**That's**_ what you thought?" he sputtered, laughter also slightly threading his voice alongside incredulity. "Wow…yeah. You couldn't have been wronger."

She huffed another laugh and then sighed. A few silent minutes passed, and then she quietly asked, "Will it always be like that? Every time we…you know…will you go into a frenzy?"

"Nah. It'll just be the first time I think. As soon as that instinct to claim you has been satisfied, we won't have to deal with that anymore."

That was a relief. At least it was only the first time that would be super rough and fast… though it did depress her to realize that they wouldn't be able to progress their physical relationship in the way she'd expected. She had always imagined that once she got a boyfriend, they'd go on a few dates, hit the bases in stages, and then eventually have sex… but it looked like that wasn't going to be the way it would transpire. With this frenzy business, it would probably all happen at once.

Just to verify, she asked, "So…I guess I'd better be ready to go all the way before trying anything physical with you, huh?"

"Pretty much."

"And uh…if you do go into a frenzy…um…I guess slow and gentle is out of the question?"

He grimaced and looked a little ashamed. "I…honestly don't know. But…probably."

That was basically what she'd expected. She leaned back against the couch and sighed, trying to come up with options. "And would waiting lessen the urge at all?"

"I doubt it. It's been weeks already, and my instincts haven't got any easier to control. If anything, they've been getting worse."

"Oh."

She thought a little more and then flushed when another idea came to her.

"Um…this is an awkward question, but…would it lessen the urge if you…uh…relieved yourself before we did anything?"

It seemed to take him a second before he figured out what she was saying and then he flushed. "Oh, er…no. I have a very short recovery time…it's probably another dragon slayer thing."

'_Talk about a porn-ish talent_,' she thought to herself and stared at him wide-eyed for a moment, then shook her head and tried to clear it out. The last thing she needed right now was to take another little trip to the gutter. The important thing was that yet another idea had been shot down… which meant she was running out of options.

She chewed her lips, worried and wondering how they were going to do this. It obviously wasn't going to happen for a little while at least…not until she was comfortable with the idea of going all the way with Natsu. She wanted to be mentally ready when it happened, even if she'd probably still have plenty of nerves thanks to their history and the whole situation.

After a bit, Natsu reached over and lightly poked her cheek. "You okay? Did I scare you too much?"

When he pulled back, she reached up and grabbed his hand, pressing it to her cheek as she turned her head to face him. "I'm worried yes, but not scared. It just means we have to wait until I'm totally ready right?"

"Yeah." he replied, his eyes darting all over her face and finally settling on her lips.

To her surprise he leaned in, careful to keep his body as far from her as he could. She raised her head to meet him when he gave her a small kiss on the lips, and then he leaned his forehead against hers.

"Sorry about all this Luce…"

"It's okay. We'll figure it out."

They stayed like that for a long moment, and then Natsu finally pulled back with a sigh. "I should probably go cool down…"

"Okay. Will you be coming back?"

"Yeah, in a bit. Ya don't have to wait up for me though."

"Alright, just wake me up to let me know you're back."

"Sure."

And then he was hopping out the window, leaving her a mess of emotions and thoughts.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_She still had some nerves and embarrassment about it all, but she knew good and well that those emotions wouldn't be going anywhere until she got used to sex…. which would only happen by actually having sex._

_There was only one last issue that held her back…. namely, the physical situation and how she was supposed to deal with him going into a mating frenzy without getting torn up again. She held little hope that there would be much foreplay once he lost control, so she wanted a backup plan in case she couldn't get in the mood with just kissing. The last thing she wanted was a repeat performance of their last sexual encounter._

_She'd been attempting research in different ways – reading romance novels, sex help books, etc. – but nothing really covered her situation. Eventually she'd given in and brought up her quandary at the most recent sleepover… which was how she'd ended up in her current predicament._

_She was currently in a store, which she had been dragged to by Cana and Mira... and for all her love of shopping, this was one particular kind of retailer that she had never stepped foot into before._


	14. CH 14: Shopping Is Always the Answer

**Author's Note:**

Alright folks! It's Sunday! And that means a new chapter. ;D

As always, a HUGE thanks to all my FANTABULOUS reviewers out there! Big hugs and kisses to: SistershoOK, ValiantJokingThorn, waiting-for-you443, Andria Justus Haynie, sakshishetty3003, valerioux, Kelsicole2194, Ikityan02, alleycat1138, Karmitara, 19vanelkc, NaLuAlways26, stranger1999, CrazyZaika, illleashya, H2o2000, FireShifter, NALUfuckinlover, Leomae2.0, Katnibal94, Anna5949, Konasuki Profitt, mynameishelby, Catleana, CatPeach, NanastuNoTaizai, quidditchChick6, , ABT4Life, and Lucinda.

Also, I just wanted to say that next chapter is the grand finale, and the last chapter of this story. Yay! But also sad. I already have another story in the works though, so hopefully it'll be coming out in a few weeks. ;D Never fear.

Anywho, I know you're all eager to get right into it, so let's cut to the chase shall we? And you know the drill, there'll be a sneak peek at the end of next chapter. You won't wanna miss it. ;D

* * *

A couple of weeks had passed, during which Lucy had been thinking hard about the issue with Natsu and his mating frenzy situation.

After contemplating it for that long, she'd adjusted to the idea and felt mentally and emotionally prepared for going all the way with him – as much as she could be anyways. It was still a daunting prospect to just go for it all without doing some stuff first. Everything that had happened while Natsu was in heat could count as experience, but since she'd been trying to either stop or ignore him at the time, she wasn't sure it was a very accurate way to measure those sorts of things. Plus, more than a month had passed since then, and most of that time had been spent not touching at all, so her comfort level with him had dropped significantly.

Still, even if the time gap had made her more shy and awkward when it came to physical contact with him, it had also let her process what had happened and fully come to terms with it. So, she had decided to think of it as a positive rather than a negative. Plus, all the kissing they'd been doing the past couple of weeks had helped her get reacquainted with touching him – even if they'd had to be extra careful to stop before Natsu got too excited. Without that, it probably would have taken her a lot longer to get used to the idea of doing more with him.

By now, she felt certain that she was ready to take the next step with him. Sure, she still had some nerves and embarrassment about it all, but she knew good and well that those emotions wouldn't be going anywhere until she got used to sex…. which would only happen by actually having sex.

However, there was still one last issue that held her back…. namely, the physical situation and how she was supposed to deal with him going into a mating frenzy without getting torn up again. He'd proven that he could handle kissing for a while, and that always got her pretty turned on, but she didn't know if it was truly enough to prepare her for what would happen after… especially if she was nervous. She held little hope that there would be much foreplay once he lost control, so she wanted a backup plan in case she couldn't get in the mood with just kissing.

She'd been attempting research in different ways – reading romance novels, sex help books, etc. – but nothing really covered her situation. So far, all she had really come up with was that she would probably need extra lube… which would definitely help at first, but how could she reapply? If last time was anything to go by, he wouldn't be able to stop and pull out if she needed a touch up.

She had also considered using a muscle relaxant to help ease things up, though she wasn't sure how effective that would be. Another option was to potentially take anti-inflammatories and painkillers beforehand, or possibly even something that would relax her – like some wine. She wasn't really happy about solving the problem with chemicals, but that was better than trying it naturally and regretting it afterwards. The last thing she wanted was a repeat performance of their last sexual encounter.

Eventually she'd given in and brought up her quandary at the most recent sleepover… which was how she'd ended up in her current predicament.

She was currently in a store, which she had been dragged to by Cana and Mira.

For all her love of shopping, this was one particular kind of retailer that she had never stepped foot into before, so she was easily overwhelmed by the array of vibrant colors, shapes, sizes, and types of sex toys that currently surrounded her on all sides. At least 80 percent of what she was seeing were things she had no names for and didn't know what their function was… which was daunting to say the least.

They had only just stepped in a moment ago, so she was still a little numb with shock and occupied herself by staring dumbly around her as Cana and Mira both watched with amused expressions.

"Oh my… Lucy, you look quite shocked. Are you alright?" Mira teased.

In response, Lucy shot the white-haired mage what was supposed to be a disgusted look, but probably came off as just dumbfounded.

"She's just overwhelmed. Give her a second." Cana chuckled back.

They did so, but a second wasn't nearly long enough for her to fully compose herself and she was still working on it when Cana decided it was time to start their expedition.

"Alrighty! First on the list is lube!"

Grabbing her arm, Cana dragged Lucy along behind her towards a large shelf stacked high with bottles of all colors, shapes, and sizes. As they passed the counter, the lady behind it called, "Welcome back! If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know."

"Hey Daniella, we'll take you up on that here in a bit. This is my friend's first time, and I've got her a whole list to go through first."

The woman laughed, obviously familiar with Cana. "Good, good. We have some new products in as well, so if you'd like me to point them out just ask."

"Excellent! Thanks!"

By then, they'd stopped in front of the wall of lube, and Cana started perusing the bottles for something. Still feeling out of her depth in so many ways, Lucy hesitantly reached for a bottle and eyeballed it. It said something about being waterproof and on the front was a picture of a golden bathtub piled high with bubbles.

"Let's start you out with a couple basics…hm…. This is a good one, and it's for sensitive skin in case you turn out to be delicate. A lot of them have glycerin, which isn't good. That's a sugar alcohol and can promote yeast or bacterial growth. I don't know if you're prone to stuff like that, so I'd avoid it if I were you. And you also wanna avoid the ones piled high with preservatives, 'cause those can make you sticky, burn, or even itch. Aloe-based lubes and water-based lubes are generally good, and they usually don't burn even if you're sensitive. You can also use stuff like coconut oil, olive oil, and avocado oil… but be careful with using oils, because they can eat through condoms and toys."

She handed over a couple of lubes with pictures of plants and water and natural looking things on the fronts. "This is a good selection, but you'll want to try them out before getting busy to see which feels best and make sure none of them irritate you. That's the last thing you need."

"Okay…" Lucy replied somewhat numbly. Her brain was starting to get back online, but the overload of information wasn't helping. "Um, could you slow down? I'm kind of…on information overload here."

"Oh, right, sorry." Cana laughed.

Lucy nodded and took a deep bracing breath, looking around her once again. She was finally starting to settle into her surroundings, though it still felt weird to be here. But now that some of her shock was wearing off, her natural curiosity was starting to come out.

"So what's next?"

"That's the spirit! Hey Mira! We're going over there! Come join us if you want to!" Cana called as she dragged Lucy behind her again. Mira was absorbed in something that had caught her attention – some kind of violet wand thing off in a corner with all sorts of restraints and bondage gear.

Gulping, Lucy turned her attention forwards, not wanting to investigate that particular section of the store.

They came to a stop on an aisle containing a bunch of small items that Lucy couldn't really identify. Most of them were round or oval, but others were in weirder shapes like U's, donuts, and even rabbits, dolphins, and butterflies. They came in all sizes and colors, and a lot of them seemed to be designed to look pretty or even cute for some reason.

"Um, what are these?" she asked as she picked up one of the many boxes and examined it. The back talked about things like modes and speeds and said it was waterproof.

"These are all vibrators and similar toys. They come in all shapes and sizes, but this aisle is dedicated to the smaller ones that are meant to be used on your clit."

"Wait, what?" she sputtered, shocked. She'd run into one or two mentions of this sort of thing in some of the romance novels she'd read, but she had been fuzzy on what exactly they did and what they looked like.

Embarrassment hit once she somewhat got over the shock, but with it also came curiosity and intrigue. It wasn't long before she found herself staring more intently at the box in her hands, though her face felt like it was melting under a heat ray.

"So you just…hold them there? And they vibrate? Does that really feel good?"

"Yep. Though you can also move them around however you like being touched. And pay attention to the shape and size. Whether they're meant to be used inside or outside, on just the clit or the whole pussy, give you indirect or direct stimulation… all has to do with their size and shape." She waved her hand around to indicate more options than the ones she'd listed. "So take a good look around and see if anything strikes your fancy. I'll pick out the basics for ya to start with."

Lucy bit her lip and put back the one she'd been looking at so she could look at the rest. Now that she knew what they were for, the sizes and shapes had a lot more meaning as she imagined how they could be used, and she quickly picked up on what Cana had meant by them obviously having different applications.

Ever since that one sleepover where she had realized that she should probably accustom herself to finger stimulation, she'd tried it a few times to see if she liked it, but so far she hadn't had a lot of luck. There were a few things that had felt good, but nothing had really gotten her off since she was so used to the sensation of water. If she kept at it, she would probably be able to figure it out eventually, but there hadn't been a lot of time for her to experiment with it lately. After she'd learned about the frenzy situation, she'd been extra careful about masturbating anywhere that Natsu could detect it with his nose.

So she was hesitantly optimistic about these toys.

Cana picked her out two toys, each with a different purpose that the card mage explained as she plopped them into Lucy's basket.

The first was what she called a basic bullet, though it looked anything but basic. It was teardrop shaped, about two inches long, with a small tip on one side and a rounded end on the other, and Lucy chose the bright orangey pink color because she thought it was prettiest. Cana explained that it was good to have for manual stimulation, in case fingers or tongue got tired or weren't working out. However, it required a hand to manipulate it, so it wasn't always the best choice for use during actual sex.

Thus, the second toy was handsfree. It was about the size and shape of a large flat round bean or a very fat coin, and it was obviously meant to sit on a clit. The title 'sunburst' made sense when she flipped over the package and saw the picture on the back that showed a bunch of little glowing feet - obviously made of magic - coming out of it and sticking it to you. That, and the remote that came with it, explained how it was hands free, and if it worked the way it said it did, Lucy could see how it might be very useful during sex.

By the time Lucy had finished looking over the second toy, Mira had joined them with a basket of her own.

"Oooh, this one looks fun." she commented as she pointed out the sunburst.

"Yep, I picked that out for Lucy."

"Well let me know how it works. I may have to get one for myself."

"Oh, uh…sure." Lucy replied with a flush.

"Alright girls! On to the next item on the list!" Cana declared, and they followed after her as she went to another aisle.

"Um, Cana? I think we already have more than enough, I don't even need all of this. Maybe just one of the vibrators and one kind of lube, but…"

"Oh come on Lucy, lighten up. Call this my wedding present." Cana said with a wink, and Lucy blushed.

"Wh-what are you talking about?!"

"Oh please, we all know you guys'll get married eventually. So this is just an early present to get you started!"

Lucy was still sputtering protests when they came to a halt at their next destination. Once again, Mira had seen something that caught her attention and had run off in hot pursuit, leaving Lucy alone at the mercy of Cana…. not that the bar maid would have been any help if she had hung around. If anything, Lucy was grateful to only have to deal with one of them at a time.

The next place they stopped was in an aisle full of dildos, and at first Lucy adamantly declined getting any such thing. Cana had a good point though - that using one of these might help her get past some of the apprehension of having something about that size and shape up inside her - and eventually Cana wore her down. However, Lucy still picked out one that didn't really look like a penis…. instead, it looked more like a blunt unicorn horn, with a spiral shape and rainbow coloring.

When Cana saw what she'd picked out, the card mage smirked and hummed, "Well, well, it looks like Natsu's got some decent sized equipment. Congrats."

Lucy blinked at her and unthinkingly said, "Huh? Oh, this? No, I picked out something a little smaller so I could work up to it."

"So he's larger than that? Heh, guess I shouldn't be surprised that the idiot's got above-average junk. Is he this big?" she pointed at a massive dong hanging at the end of the aisle and Lucy's eyes bugged out.

"No! Thank Mavis. He's more like that." She gestured at the dongs that she thought were in the ball park, though she didn't really remember it clearly enough to be sure.

Cana whistled. "Still pretty impressive. I can see why you'd be worried about him being rough if he's wielding something like that. You're lucky he isn't packing something bigger. I ended up with a guy who had something like this-" A toy that read, '12-inches,' got flicked for emphasis. "And it was pretty damn uncomfortable. He couldn't get it all in and kept trying too hard, so I had to kick him out. Actually, more precisely, I sent him to Mira. The bigger the better in her book."

"No kidding?" Lucy asked weakly, unable to imagine someone that size.

After that, they ended up wandering around the store a bit more while Cana tried to convince her to buy more things, but eventually they finally found themselves at the register.

However, instead of trying to check out, Cana told the woman behind the counter, "Alright Daniella, we'd like to order a couple potions. I want your contraceptive potion for my friend here, and I also want your strongest aphrodisiac potion."

The woman raised a brow and smirked before grabbing the requested bottles. "Alright, here you go. The contraceptives are in single dose vials, and each dose is good for 24 hours of use. The aphrodisiac is in a single bottle and is marked for dosage. Each line is for one hour, so however many lines down you drink will be how many hours the potion lasts. I should probably warn you though, this potion is seriously strong…. it'll make you hornier than you ever thought possible, so be sure you only take it when you plan to have sex. Otherwise, you'll be in for a world of hurt."

Lucy flushed, but nodded, knowing that it was exactly the sort of thing she'd need to get through Natsu's frenzy. In fact, she was frankly amazed by the idea and thought it was downright brilliant. Why hadn't she thought of something like this?

Once the potions had been handed over, Cana made the purchase despite Lucy's protests and then handed her the goodie bag as they walked out of the store.

"Here ya go. All you've gotta do to pay me back is have lots of fun and tell me all about it afterwards." she said with a wink.

A few seconds later, Mira exited with two bags of merchandise and handed one over to Lucy with a wink of her own and a smirk.

"And this is my contribution. I didn't think you'd get these for yourself, so I went around and picked out some stuff while Cana kept you occupied."

At that, Lucy gulped, and only took the bag when Mira basically forced it on her. She wasn't sure she even wanted to look at what was in it and wondered if she'd even recognize the stuff in there.

As soon as she was laden with the bags of sex toys, Cana and Mira left before she could change her mind.

She ended up calling, "Wait! I don't…I'm not sure if…Ugh!" to their quickly retreating backs.

Laughter reached her ears and she ground her teeth together, seriously contemplating throwing the bags into the river.

…

In the end, she decided not to dispose of the licentious products… but she did make a very hasty retreat back to her apartment.

Once the door was shut and locked behind her, she sighed with relief, having halfway expected to run into someone else from the guild who would somehow discover what she was carrying in these bags. If that had happened, she never would have lived it down.

The relief was short lived though, because no sooner had she started to relax than a voice said, "Hey Luce, where ya been?!"

She yelped, jumped a foot in the air, and fumbled her bags, nearly dropping one. Somehow she snatched it seemingly out of midair and hugged the both of them to her chest, breathing heavily.

"N-Natsu! What are you doing here?!"

"Just hanging out…" he replied, cocking his head at her like, '_duh_.'

"Oh, right…um…"

Lucy's mind was racing, thinking desperately to herself, '_do not be suspicious… don't act weird… he'll pounce on it right away. I am not ready for him to see this stuff, I don't even know if I EVER want him to see this stuff… just act calm, act natural, don't make a fuss…_'

"So what ya got there?" he asked nodding to the bags, and she nearly had a heart attack.

"Oh, um I just went clothes shopping." she replied in the most neutral tone she could manage as she rearranged the bags to be held normally by their handles to act more casual about it. "I'm gonna just go put these in the dirty clothes… the shirts have other people's perfume on them, so they need to be washed."

As she headed to the bathroom he said, "What? You're not gonna show them to me?"

She froze for half a step and then kept walking. It was true that a lot of the time after shopping she was so excited that she couldn't wait to show someone what she'd bought. And that 'someone' often happened to be Natsu – despite the fact that he always seemed bored to death by it.

"Um, no, not today. I'm a little tired and hungry actually."

Which was true, Cana and Mira had lured her out of the house with a promise of brunch that they had never fulfilled. That was how they'd tricked her to going to the sex shop with them.

She quickly slipped into the bathroom and closed the door. Now she just had to find a hiding place for the bags.

Thinking fast, she reached into her laundry hamper and grabbed all the clothes she could in one big armful and then dumped them on the floor. After placing the bags at the bottom of the hamper, she dropped all the clothes back on top of them, hoping that would do the trick. Natsu hadn't seemed too suspicious, but she'd seen a little glimmer of curiosity in his eyes that had proved problematic in the past, so she didn't want to take any risks.

Once everything was appropriately hidden, she went back out and immediately headed towards the kitchen. It was still too early for dinner, so she got to work on making some sandwiches, one for her and three for Natsu. She also threw a frozen fish from her freezer into the fridge to start thawing for Happy. It wouldn't be ready until later, but he probably already had one in that magical backpack of his to eat with them… this would just replace it later.

Maybe it was because they were dating now, but Lucy had been doing a lot more cooking for her two boys, and for some reason she hadn't minded. Before, she would have at least put up a farce of complaining, and might have even believed it herself, but now she was actually happy to make stuff for them. Maybe she'd always enjoyed it and had just lied to herself about it.

Soon enough, the sandwiches were ready and she'd sliced up some fruit to go with them… but when she turned to call everyone to the table, her apartment was surprisingly empty. Happy trotted over and hopped up onto the high chair she had procured for him several years ago – back when she had finally conceded the fact that he and his pink-haired companion would be having dinner with her more often than not.

"Happy? Where's Natsu?"

"Oh, he's taking a crap. Said he'd be right back. I don't think he expected you to be done so fast since you always take so long to cook."

She felt a blood vessel pound in her forehead. "It doesn't take me any longer to cook than anyone else!"

"Then why do we get food so much faster at a restaurant?" the nosy cat asked in a snooty tone that really pissed her off.

"BECAUSE…."

…

From the bathroom, Natsu snickered as he heard Happy successfully get Lucy's complete attention. He'd told his buddy that Lucy was acting super weird about those bags and he wanted to see what was really in them, so they'd come up with a plan. While she was busy cooking, he snuck in here, and then Happy would keep her busy till he was done.

His nose and ears told him all kinds of stuff, like the fact that she'd been out with Mira and Cana, and how she'd come back out of the bathroom smelling a little like dirty laundry. So, as soon he got in the bathroom, he opened up the hamper first to see if there were any new clothes there. They'd be at the top unless she was trying to hide them, and nothing he saw or smelled was new. So he started to dig. A dull 'whump' earlier had suggested that she'd dumped a bunch of clothes or towels or something on the ground, so he'd bet anything that if she _had_ hidden something, it was under all these clothes.

After scattering most of the clothes out of the hamper, he came to two very crunched-up bags and grinned, snatching them out.

He upended the first and then stared in confusion. What the hell _was_ all this stuff? There were bottles that looked like shampoo or perfume or some other shit like that and boxes that had pictures of stuff on them that he couldn't even begin to figure out. So, he popped open the first box and grabbed the little round thing inside. It came with a rectangle that had buttons on it, so he figured it must be some kind of remote or a lacrima radio….

'_Or maybe this is spy stuff!_' he thought excitedly, thinking the little button might be some kind of ear piece.

He held it up to his ear and started pressing buttons on the remote, then jumped when one of the buttons made it clamp onto his earlobe. That was a little freaky, but he figured it could also be some kind of tracking device. Then he pressed another button that made it start buzzing and vibrating against his ear. He winced and immediately started punching buttons to try and turn it off, because that sound was really annoying right against his ear. Kinda painful actually.

Eventually he got it to finally shut up and drop off his ear, and he breathed a sigh of relief and glared at it. He pressed the button that made it let him go and a bunch of little legs popped out and latched it onto his hand. After fiddling with the controls some more, he figured out that all it did was vibrate… and he had no idea what the hell it was for. When he couldn't get any more out of it, he quickly lost interest and put it away, hoping to get more information from the other stuff.

The next thing he pulled out was like a little pink ball with a pointy end, but it just vibrated like the weird button, so he put it back and switched to the last box. That one had a long rainbow-colored horn thing that also vibrated, but he had no idea what its purpose was either. So he put it up too and switched his attention to the bottles, hoping they'd clear up this mystery.

There were four different looking bottles and a box full of little vials. He immediately went for the biggest of the four, because it looked totally different from the others. It kinda almost looked like a bottle of wine or something to drink, and it was a pink color while the others were clear. But all it said on the front was 'Eros' and then a bunch of lines up the side of the bottle.

When it didn't tell him shit about what it was or what it did, he switched to the three smaller bottles and hoped they'd give him something. They were all about the same size, but with different shapes and with different pictures on the front. One was tall and skinny and had a picture of water rippling on the front, another was short and fat and had flowers and leaves on the front, and the last was hourglass shaped and had the outline of a woman's body on the front.

He picked up one at random – the one with the leaves and stuff on the front – and flipped it around to see if it said what it was supposed to do. It said stuff like, 'all natural,' and 'paraben free' – whatever the hell a paraben was – and other unhelpful crap like that. The only thing he could latch onto was, 'natural lubricant,' so he figured maybe it was like lotion or oil for skin or something. The others were the same, so he dropped them and grabbed for the last thing in that bag and finally hit the jackpot.

The box of little bottles were contraceptive potions…. Birth control….. A way to not get pregnant.

Something lurched in his gut and he felt himself heat up in a way that seemed a little dangerous – but since Lucy wasn't in here, he didn't worry too much about it. If she was buying contraceptives, then that meant… she was thinking about having sex. Was she really ready? It had only been a few weeks, he'd have thought it would take her longer after his huge fuck-up the first time around. Or at least, half of him thought that way. The other half wondered what was taking her so long and wished she'd hurry up – but those were just his instincts and hormones talking.

Of course, then he started to wonder about all the other stuff. The natural lube had a new meaning for sure, and he wondered if it was _that_ kind of lube. Then he wondered if the horn thing was actually a penis thing… and if it was meant to be used like a penis.

The idea of Lucy slicking lube over the rainbow-colored dong and slipping it inside her made his head spin. The thing was smaller than him, so maybe she was planning on getting in some practice first?

By now, he was painfully hard and had to adjust himself as he piled all that stuff back in the first bag, and then he dumped out the second. He didn't have forever, Lucy would come check on him in a bit if he wasn't fast about this, and he definitely wanted to see what else was in here.

The other stuff had Cana's scent on it, so he figured that the card mage had probably picked them out, but a hint of Lucy's scent suggested she'd at least approved of them. But the stuff in the new bag just had Mira's scent on it, so he guessed that Lucy hadn't even looked at it yet. That made sense, considering what exactly was in there.

There was a full set of wrist and ankle cuffs in there – pink with fur on the inside – and he assumed the magic resistant chains were meant to go with them. There were multiple lengths of chain all connected with really strong looking clasps - so they could be shortened or lengthened - and his brain came up with the scenario of slipping the chain under the bed with the restraints above. It looked like there was enough chain for that.

The next things he pulled out of the pile were several bundles of red silky-feeling rope that had been doused in what smelled like fire resistant potion and a small book on, 'The Art of Tying Knots.' Normally he wouldn't have even bothered opening the book, but under the circumstances he thumbed through it and felt his eyebrows crawling up his head at the drawn pictures inside of both women and men tied up in all sorts of crazy ways. That might be fun, but he wasn't sure he'd have the patience for it.

Then he got to a few things that the titles and pictures on the boxes told him all he needed to know… though he had to use his imagination to figure some of them out. The collar, cat ears, and fuzzy tail were also self-explanatory, and his mind drifted towards thoughts of Lucy playing his 'pet.' He'd have never thought of the fantasy himself, but now that it was in his head he had to admit it made him horny. Of course, all of it made him horny. Just imagining himself using any of these things on her - or her using them on him - had him hard as a rock and in need of a cold shower.

But he didn't have time for that. Right now, he needed to put all this stuff away and get out of here before Lucy suspected what he was up to. Although…. now he kind of wanted her to come in here so he could confront her and get the ball rolling.

With an evil grin, he had an idea and didn't hesitate to go through with it.

…

"What is taking him so long?" Lucy wondered out loud, eyeballing the bathroom door.

She was sure she'd hidden everything well enough that he wouldn't find it, but she couldn't stop the knot of anxiety from slowly building in her stomach…. though there was also maybe a hint of excitement mixed in there too at the thought of Natsu looking at that stuff. She wasn't sure how to feel about the second emotion, so she ignored it.

Thankfully, it wasn't much longer before he was opening the bathroom door and bounced into the kitchen.

"Awesome, the food's already ready? Great job Luce!"

She felt that blood vessel come back to pound in her forehead. "You knew it was ready! You had to hear us while you were in there!"

He just laughed and dove into his first sandwich, cutting the conversation off there. With a sigh, she grumbled a little and worked on finishing up the second half of her sandwich while he plowed through his. They finished about the same time for once, thanks to her head start, so she took both their plates to the sink.

After cleaning up, she wiped her brow and sighed, wondering what to do now.

"I think I'm going to take a bath…" she mused, deciding that a little soak in hot water might help relax her body.

"Sounds good."

She glanced at Natsu, a little surprised. Usually he whined a lot more when she disappeared for a bath because he got bored… but she wasn't going to complain if he planned on being more amendable today.

So, she grabbed a fresh change of clothes and headed into the bathroom, noting that Natsu had turned and started to whisper to Happy. That was a little suspicious, but she dismissed it and closed the bathroom door behind her as she started to strip for her bath.

Things took a sharp turn though when she went to start the water, and she froze, staring at the edge of her tub. Somehow she'd missed the fact that all those new toys she'd hidden away were now lined up neatly on the lip of the tub, while the bag was sitting proudly on the toilet. For a long moment, she just stared at it, and then a new thought hit her and she rushed over to the bag. All the toys on the tub were the ones she'd gotten with Cana, and when she grabbed the bag off the toilet it was empty… so that meant that the second bag was MIA.

Out of either, that was the one she was most concerned about, since she didn't actually know what was in it, so she panicked. The hamper was quickly emptied, but it wasn't in there either. Where had he put it?! Had he seen what was inside?! Obviously, yes, since he'd dumped out the contents of the other.

All she could do was pile everything back into the empty bag and then stand there and chew on her thumbnail as she wondered what to do now. Her face was flaming red, which the mirror confirmed from a quick glance into it, and her heart was pounding so fast that she had trouble catching her breath. This was so embarrassing… how was she supposed to react?

She ended up at the sink splashing cold water over her face and then took deep controlled breaths until she'd started to calm down. Anger that he'd gone through her stuff helped to erase some of the embarrassment, so she fostered the emotion until she was ready to go confront him. Going with a knee jerk reaction might not be the smartest thing, but getting pissed was better than feeling utterly humiliated and hiding out in her bathroom for the rest of the night. So, with a growl, she threw her clothes back on and donned her angriest face.

"Natsu!" she yelled as she kicked the door open.

Her eyes immediately found him lounging on her couch, his feet kicked up over the arm and his head pillowed on the opposite arm, facing her. He looked like he was waiting for her, and the self-satisfied grin that slowly crawled across his lips confirmed it.

Embarrassment and a little unexpected arousal kicked her in the gut, but she stuck with being pissed for now. It seemed the safest option.

"How many times have I told you to not go through my stuff?" she snarled and made sure to fix him with the nastiest glare she could manage.

"Oh come on Luce, what'd you expect? You were acting so shady I couldn't resist."

And here she had thought she'd fooled him…. apparently she hadn't fooled him in the slightest. Damn dragon slayer.

She groaned and a little of her irritation drained, despite her efforts to stay mad. "What tipped you off?"

"You smelled like Cana and Mira, and when you came out of the bathroom you smelled like dirty laundry."

Of course. His nose couldn't be lied to. No matter how easy it could sometimes be to trick him, if his nose picked up on an inconsistency you were busted.

"Damn…. Well, whatever. The point is, I wouldn't have even tried to hide that stuff if you didn't have a track record of invading my privacy! What is it with you?! If I tell you not to look at something, you always, _always_ do!"

He just shrugged. "Maybe dragons are naturally curious?"

"I'm pretty sure it's just you…" Lucy hissed.

When his response was an unrepentant grin, she got even more pissed. "Alright! That's it! Get out! I don't want to see you again until tomorrow!"

When she headed towards the door, he caught her in the middle of the room and his hand wrapped around her wrist. She stayed facing away from him with her arm stretched out behind her.

"Ease up there, Luce. I'm sorry okay? I shouldn't have teased you like that."

She assumed he meant putting the toys out for her to find. It was a step in the right direction, though she could tell his apology wasn't entirely sincere. Then again, her anger wasn't entirely sincere either.

With a yank, she pulled her wrist free and turned to face him while crossing her arms over her chest. "Do you really think that's enough to get out of trouble?"

"Nah, probably not. You're always harder to calm down when you're embarrassed."

That sounded dangerously like a taunt, and she felt her cheeks flush with a mixture of anger and the embarrassment he'd mentioned. "Are you _trying_ to piss me off more?"

"Just pointing out the obvious."

She ground her teeth together and grabbed his scarf before using it to drag him towards the door. He choked a little at first and then extra tension on the make-shift leash suggested he'd grabbed it to keep himself from being strangled.

"So…why'd you get all that stuff anyways? And what's it all for?" he rasped, somehow sounding fairly unfazed while being dragged around by his neck.

"You mean you don't even know what that stuff is?!"

The idea hadn't even crossed her mind, and she twisted to look over her shoulder. Sure enough, Natsu had a hand wrapped around the scarf and his other was loosening the coils around his neck.

"Well I recognized the contraceptives, and figured out the lube, and the dick was pretty self-explanatory, but I have no idea what the other stuff is for."

Her face burst into fire and she whipped back around towards the door. "Like I'd answer questions after you snooped through my stuff. Are you an idiot?!"

When her fingers started fumbling with the locks, Natsu's hand snuck around her and landed on the door, keeping it solidly shut.

"Come on Luce, don't be mad. That stuff is for _us_ right? Don't ya think I have a right to know how it works? I know I'm being an ass…but I'm just fired up after seeing what you got for us. I'm sorry for getting you upset. Come on…please? I just wanna talk about it."

This time, his voice was finally apologetic and had the hint of a whine that he always used whenever he obviously wasn't going to get his way. Normally she could ignore it - though that particular tone always tugged on her heartstrings a little - but in this case she had to concede.

She supposed she couldn't fault him for wanting to know about something like this. He had to have figured out she was preparing for sex, especially after seeing the contraceptives, and of course that would excite him. Unfortunately, he was just taking out that excitement in ways that were pissing her off… though, if she were completely honest, his teasing wasn't pissing her off so much as her own embarrassment. And it certainly wasn't his fault that she'd gotten flustered over the whole thing.

Now that it had come to this… Natsu's enthusiasm was starting to trigger a similar response in her, and intrigue and anticipation were threatening to overwhelm her desire to be irritated. She was still majorly embarrassed, but it was fading just a little now, to be replaced with nervous excitement. Her heart was pounding in her chest again and she felt a little flushed for a different reason.

As the irritation continued to bleed away, she slowly reversed the direction of her fingers and clicked the locks back into place with a sigh. His hand removed itself from the door as she released his scarf from her grip, but she stayed facing the door as she crossed her arms, feeling utterly flustered and unsure about how to deal with this situation now that she'd given up on being mad.

"Alright…fine. I guess you were kind of right… I was mostly just pissed because I was embarrassed…" she finally admitted, flushing harder.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I think the stuff's cool and looks like it'll be a lot of fun. I didn't know you were into that kind of thing."

At that, she spun and fixed him with a milder glare. "I'm not! Cana and Mira got those things!"

"Hey, I didn't mean it in a bad way. Like I said, it all looks fun."

She pursed her lips and glanced to the side again, for some reason blushing harder now that Natsu could see it. This was so damn awkward… but she supposed if she couldn't even _talk_ about this kind of stuff with Natsu, she had no business saying she was ready to have sex with him.

When she risked a glance at him, she was surprised to see that his cheeks were a little pink too, though his flush was probably mostly due to excitement. That thought actually made her interest in the situation amp up a little, and she felt her stomach flutter like it was trying to escape her body.

"Um, so…what did you want to talk about?" she eventually mumbled.

"Oh yeah, well…!" He ran off and then quickly came back with the brown bag, much to her embarrassment, and then he parked himself on the couch.

She slowly walked over and joined him as he dug through the bag.

"Yeah, so what are these? I couldn't figure them out." he asked as he retrieved the vibrators and the bottle of aphrodisiac.

"Um…these are vibrators…" Lucy started, pointing at the two.

"Yeah, I figured out that they vibrate, but I don't really know what that's supposed to do."

"Apparently it feels good on…certain parts of the body."

"Really? It doesn't sound like you're really confidant about that though…"

"Well I've never used something like this before!" she explained, feeling a tad defensive.

Natsu's eyes glittered. "So you're first time'll be with me, huh?"

She flushed. "I mean…yeah. Duh. Though…I kind of thought I would…maybe try them out on my own first and see if they worked…"

He pouted. "But I wanna try them out together!"

"O-oh…okay. I guess we could do that…" she mused, though she doubted they'd get around to using any of this stuff their first night together, since it would probably all go so quickly.

Actually…now that Natsu had found all these things…the sudden realization that they could probably do it tonight hit her like a ton of bricks, and she suddenly felt lightheaded. She was so preoccupied that Natsu had to flick her forehead to get her attention.

"Oi. You okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I just spaced out for a second. What were you saying?"

"I asked where you were supposed to use them… especially this little one. It doesn't seem like it'd cover much skin."

"That's supposed to go on…uh…" She tapered off, realizing how explicit she was going to have to get to describe this and flushed hot. "Err…have you ever heard of a clitoris before? Clit for short."

She was averting her eyes from his but saw him cock his head in her peripheral vision. "I've heard people mention it, yeah. But I don't know what it is."

"It's…a small bead of flesh…kind of like a nipple…and it's…well…very, _very_ sensitive."

"Really? Do I have one?"

She couldn't hold back a snort and some of her awkwardness evaporated in the face of his naivety. "No, guys don't have a clit. It's part of a woman's sexual parts."

"Oh. So what does it do?"

"Like I said, it's very sensitive. It's how most women uh…get off. I mean, I've heard some women can get off from other stuff, but that's pretty rare I think."

"Rea_aally_…" he said, drawing the word out in a way that suggested he was extremely interested by this piece of information. "So I guess when you said that vibrations are supposed to feel good against certain parts, you meant your clit right?"

Weirdly, hearing Natsu say that word almost flustered her more than saying it herself. However, the discomfort was also accompanied by a shot of heat that suggested she might like to hear him say stuff like that more often… or at least in a particular setting.

"U-um…yeah…supposedly. Like I said, I've never tried it so I don't know if it works or not…"

"How do _you_ usually do it then?"

She flushed and snapped, "Natsu!" reproachfully.

"What? We're already talking about it… why're ya getting all embarrassed now?"

"It's _all_ kind of embarrassing…but…that's just…gah!"

He had a point, as much as she hated to admit it. Again, if she couldn't even tell him how she got herself off, then she wasn't ready to get more physical with him. It was just so incredibly _awkward_ to talk about this stuff though…. strangely she felt like she might be less embarrassed by just having sex.

"Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right." she eventually grumbled and then took a fortifying breath and let it out slowly to try and get her nerves under control. "I, er…usually I use the tub faucet or the detachable shower head to…do it."

"Huh? How does that work?"

"Oh come on, Natsu! Use your imagination! I let the water run over my…myself…down there, and it…you know, feels good..." The beginning was said loudly in exasperation, but by the end of her little explanation she was mumbling.

"Okay…" he squinted as if trying to picture it, then frowned, and finally his eyes widened a little as if he had figured it out. "So just running water on your clip tortoise feels good enough to make you come?"

The sheer amount of amazement in his voice was actually pretty funny, but she didn't laugh or smile… because she was a little too busy trying to figure out what the heck he'd just said. For a long moment she stared at him quietly, wondering if he had seriously just called her clitoris a 'clip tortoise.' He'd gotten it right the last time he said it… but, then again, he _had_ used the shortened version. Apparently the full term was too complex for him, and his strange name dyslexia had made an appearance.

Soon a snort had escaped her nose, quickly followed by another, and before she knew what was happening, she'd collapsed into a laughing mess. Once she started, she couldn't stop, and every bit of stress or discomfort washed away in the fit of giggles. He just watched the episode with a bemused expression that only made her chuckle harder.

Eventually the laughter subsided - leaving her feeling boneless - and with a relaxed sigh she answered Natsu's previous question, "Yeah…but it's _clitoris_, not 'clip tortoise.' Maybe you should just stick to calling it a clit."

"Oh, so _that's_ why you were laughing. I thought you'd gone crazy for a minute there."

A leftover snort escaped her. "Nope… just laughing at you."

After a short pause, she then asked, "So anyways… were you done with this stuff? Do you want to put them away?"

She gestured at the toys in front of them.

"No! You haven't told me what this does yet."

She glanced at the item he'd pointed out. "Oh that? That's actually an aphrodisiac potion. Really, it's the most important thing I got there, aside from the lube and the contraceptives. Everything else is extra and not really necessary as far as I'm concerned, but Mira and Cana insisted."

"I'm glad they did, this all looks like great stuff. But what do you need an aphrodisiac potion for?"

She rolled her eyes, wondering how he could be so oblivious. "Obviously it's to solve our little problem with you going into a frenzy. The idea is that if I take this powerful aphrodisiac, it'll put me into the same kind of state as you…so…we won't have to deal with any of the stuff I was worried about…"

By the end of it, Natsu's eyes were wide and flickering with gold lights in a way that was making Lucy feel distinctly nervous and excited, as well as a little flustered again. Just the idea of taking the potion and going totally out of control and wild with lust was pretty embarrassing… but also maybe more than a little arousing, if she was willing to admit it to herself.

When he didn't say anything and just gaped at her for at least a minute, she started babbling out of discomfort. "I've been ready to try going all the way for a little while, but I was still worried that I'd be too dry or tight and we'd end up with an uncomfortable situation. Originally I thought of the lube and figured that maybe it would be enough… but I was worried that we might have trouble reapplying it if you couldn't pause for a second. Anyways, I mentioned it to Cana and she had the brilliant idea of the aphrodisiac. It's uh…kind of embarrassing…. I didn't like the idea of being out of control…but…well, it does make sense. And, in the end, I'd much rather the experience be pleasant than painful. But I understand if you don't want to do it that way…I mean, it is pretty drastic…and I'd probably look silly under its effects…and I'd probably act really weird…"

"Hey Luce?"

"Huh?" she asked and turned back to him, having looked away in her flustered state. What met her eyes was a very golden hungry stare and she froze, not sure when it had happened or what to do about it.

He gulped and closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, they only had gold flecks. "You said you've been ready right? I'm gonna need you to make a decision pretty quick… either drink that potion right now and we do this tonight… or tell me you're not ready and I'll get out of here before I lose it."

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_It didn't take her long to taste something different in his kisses tonight… there was a new edge, an extra layer of eagerness that made sense under the circumstances. He was obviously also thinking about how they wouldn't be stopping for a very long time._

_It wasn't long before two superheated palms landed on either side of her face, cradling her head and tilting it up more so he could get at her better. It took her a little by surprise too, because that sort of action would usually be immediately followed by him jumping back and putting a stop to things. So far in their physical relationship, he had kept his hands mostly to himself, though he'd let her touch him as long as her hands stayed on his shoulders or above._

_It was just one more reminder that tonight was different, and she wondered how many surprises it would take for her to fully absorb the fact that they were really doing this._


	15. CH 15: Frenzied Finale

**Author's Note:**

Hi all! It's Sunday! And it's finally time... for the FINAL CHAPTER! Yay! Dun dun dun.

(Oh, and sorry it's kinda later than usual, there was some major drama that I got caught up in.)

As always of course, I wanna give all my AMAZING WONDERFUL reviews out there a HUGE thanks! Big hugs and kisses to: waiting-for-you443, sakshishetty3003, hazelnutdonut, 19vanelkc, ikityan02, Karmitara, BearPlusCat, alleycat1138, CatPeach, imaoola, dani-yell10, SistershoOK, NaLuAlways26, stranger1999, Piglets12, CrazyZaika, valerioux, Anna5949, Andria Justus Haynie, Katnibal94, LovelyLovelyLove, Leomae2.0, Lucinda, aliciacevbra, Konasuki Profitt, littlerena, TheJSmooth, FireShifter, Catleana, MeganM1456, and nicole3.14.

As you all know, this is the last chapter of this story. But I've got another NaLu story in the works already and it should be out soon. I'm hoping no more than a few weeks... as long as life doesn't get in the way of course, lol. But I'll be checking back here and responding to reviews in the meantime, and feel free to PM me as well.

Alrighty! On to the finale!

* * *

Lucy's mind went totally blank for about thirty seconds and then kickstarted with a bang. What was she supposed to do? What did she want to do? Yes, she'd been thinking she was ready… but when confronted with the reality of the situation, it was way more nerve-racking than she'd expected. Her heart was pounding faster that it ever had before as far as she knew, and her face was so hot she was sure she could fry an egg on her forehead. Actually – if a certain warm sensation was any indication – the blush was going down her neck and chest now too.

Was she really ready? It was scary, she had to admit, but that was just thanks to their first misadventure in this arena. Did she want to have sex with Natsu? Yes of course… she'd been in love with him for years, and she'd wanted this for just as long. Hell, even longer, since she'd been attracted to him before she fell in love with him. She was just nervous about the reality of the situation and the memories of the last time, but was that really enough to keep her from going for what she had wanted for so long?

That was the big question, and after thinking about it for a few moments, she bit her lip and reached for the potion bottle.

At her action, Natsu made a sound she wasn't sure how to identify… it was sort of like a gasp and then a sigh, but mixed in there was some kind of nearly inhuman note that sounded almost like a growl combined with a human groan. It was also so soft that she was surprised she'd heard it. Apparently all her senses were hyper-aware of Natsu right now, because she could even hear his breathing pick up a few notches as she grabbed the bottle.

However, after a minute or two of struggling to uncork it, his hand covered hers and stopped her. "You sure about this? There really isn't any rush… I can just go cool off for a while, and we can do this some other time."

She blinked up at him with surprise to see the gold flecks had been reduced even more, and his gaze had softened into one of concern.

"Um yeah…I'm ready. I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't…"

"You sure?" he asked once again, consternating her even further. Normally he blindly jumped head-first into absolutely everything without even a second thought.

"Yes... Why? Do I not look ready?"

"Not really…. Your hands are shaking so bad you can't uncork that bottle. If you're not scared, why're you trembling?"

She flushed. "Oh…yeah… I guess I could see why you'd be worried. I'm not scared though…not really. I _am_ nervous, but…that's just because this is our first time…well not our _first_ time…but that's also…" With a groan, she dropped the bottle into her lap and ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. "I'm not explaining myself well, so let me start over."

He cocked his head and silently waited, showing an uncharacteristic level of patience that she was very grateful for.

After a deep breath, she tried again. "I _am_ nervous. Obviously. For two reasons. One is that I'm inexperienced, and this is all very new and nerve-wracking and embarrassing just because of that. I always figured that I'd be able to get accustomed to this sort of stuff slowly, you know? Like, do some stuff on one date, and then go a little further the next…but we're going all the way all at once, and it's just…kinda scary."

She paused and he nodded for her to continue.

So, with another deep breath, she finished off her monologue. "The second reason I'm extra nervous is just leftover stuff from last time. I know it's going to be different this time, but I just…have some baggage, you know?"

By the time she was done, his eyebrows were scrunched together and he looked very concerned. "That's a lot of stuff Luce…how can you be ready with all that going on? I really don't wanna do this until _you_ wanna do it too."

Her heart clenched at the sweet words and she smiled softly at him as her nerves settled a little for the moment. "Well, that's the thing. I _do_ want to…. You have no idea how long I've wanted this. It's been years since I fell in love with you, and I liked you even longer than I loved you, so… yeah, it's been a long time. Just because I'm nervous and it's happening a little differently than I expected doesn't mean I don't want it to happen. Besides, those nerves and fears aren't going away until we do something about them."

Aaaaa_and_ she was blushing again. But it was worth it to see his eyes widen comically and then watch the nearly goofy grin that spread across his face.

Abruptly he frowned again though and sternly said, "I still think you should have told me how you felt _**way**_ sooner. We could've been doing this for a long time by now if you had."

She rolled her eyes at his rebuke and popped the cork with ease now that she wasn't trembling. "Way to set the mood Natsu… _ooh_ _yeah_, scold me some more."

Her very sarcastic moan made his lips quirk into a much more wicked kind of smile, and she abruptly felt like maybe she'd touched on something she shouldn't have.

"If you like that, maybe I'll need to use some of the stuff from the other bag..."

Suddenly all that blood that had collected in her face abruptly relocated as she blanched. "That's right! Where _is_ the other bag?! And what was in it?! Wait, don't tell me…I don't want to know. Just give it back so I can dispose of it."

"Nope." He popped his 'p' in a way that was absurdly arrogant and really got under her skin. Before she could amp up the wattage of her protests though, he pointed at the potion in her hand and cautioned, "You might wanna drink that before you spill it."

"Oh…yeah. I probably should."

Suddenly reminded of their current situation, she decided to forget about the bag for now and hunt for it later.

Biting her lip, she eyeballed the lines on the side for measurement. "Um…about how long do you think this is going to last? I know you said there would be multiple rounds, but…will there be breaks between them when I can top off on this stuff?"

"You should probably drink at least 3 hours' worth. We can probably rest a bit then, and you can drink more."

She felt a little faint at the news. "Um…three hours? And you think I'll need more after that? Just how long are you going to be… all fired up like that?"

He chuckled - probably at her double-entendre with his favorite phrase - but when he answered her question it was with a slightly sheepish and apologetic note to it. "Probably off and on all night."

"The sun hasn't even set yet…"

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah…I'm just having a hard time believing it." She eyeballed the potion in her hand. "I'm actually starting to feel a lot more grateful for this thing. I _had_ been a little scared about what exactly it was going to do to me… but it sounds like I'm going to need it a lot more than I'd thought."

With a grimace, she sucked in her breath and held it as she downed a couple gulps of the potion. Her eyes instantly watered and she started coughing as she swallowed, handing the potion off to Natsu for safekeeping as she worked through the burning in her throat.

"Damn that's potent…" she cussed, giving the vial a wet version of her hairy eyeball. She'd only managed to bring it down two bars though, so if she was going to follow Natsu's instructions she needed a little more.

After hacking a couple more minutes, she went and got herself a glass of water, which helped sooth her throat some. Once she could breathe without whooping up a lung, she snatched the potion back from Natsu. After another stern glare – as if that would make it behave and burn less – she took one more gulp and then immediately downed her entire glass of water as Natsu retrieved the offending vial from her hands before she could drop it. She tossed the cork to him so he could cap it off, and then she slammed her glass on the table. Before she completely let herself relax though, she also opened up the box of contraceptive potions and downed one of the little vials, very thankful it wasn't nearly as nasty as the aphrodisiac.

Once she'd finished with both potions, she dropped back into the couch to try and recover, blearily watching as Natsu set the aphrodisiac potion back on the table too.

"Was this one really that bad?" he inquired as he plopped it down.

She shot Natsu a look through eyes that were still running with tears. "You'd love it. It's like drinking straight fire."

When he shot it a considering glance, she quickly added, "But don't even _think_ of drinking it tonight. That's all mine until you've gotten over your frenzy."

To emphasize how serious she was, she'd automatically grabbed something and pointed it at him.

The fact that she was now waving around a rainbow dong hit her a moment later, and she flushed and dropped it, much to Natsu's loud amusement. She grabbed all the toys and shoved them in the bag, mostly to get them out of sight, but Natsu took it a step further and tossed the bag over onto the bed. That seemed really optimistic on his part, but she didn't really feel up to pointing out that they probably wouldn't have time to experiment with any of them.

Whatever the case, the couch was now free… which allowed Natsu to scooch closer to her. She cracked an eye open and looked over at him when she felt the cushion move, only to jerk a little when his nose touched hers. He was so close that she had to go cross-eyed for his face to come into focus, and she wondered how the heck he'd snuck up on her so quickly.

"Um…shouldn't we wait till the potion starts taking effect?" she squeaked.

"We can kiss and stuff until then right?"

His counterargument only had one flaw. "As long as you don't lose control before the potion kicks in."

"I think I can hold back that long." he replied with a smirk that had her belly tightening.

He didn't give her a chance to respond before his lips landed on hers.

Over the past couple of weeks – while she'd been trying to figure out how they could safely go further – they had continued to make-out whenever possible, and their kisses had only continued to get better and better. It had reached the point where Lucy was regularly frustrated when they had to stop for Natsu to take a breather, because she wanted more.

Well, tonight they wouldn't be stopping, and that thought made her stomach muscles ratchet another notch tighter. Butterflies also spontaneously decided to sprout into being within her entire abdominal region, and her heart kicked into high gear as if to combat them. All of this was a mild distraction, but she still had plenty of space to feel Natsu's warm chapped lips moving over her own.

It didn't take her long to taste something different in his kisses tonight… there was a new edge, an extra layer of eagerness that made sense under the circumstances. He was obviously also thinking about how they wouldn't be stopping for a very long time.

It wasn't long before two superheated palms landed on either side of her face, cradling her head and tilting it up more so he could get at her better. It took her a little by surprise too, because that sort of action would usually be immediately followed by him jumping back and putting a stop to things. So far in their physical relationship, he had kept his hands mostly to himself, though he'd let her touch him as long as her hands stayed on his shoulders or above.

It was just one more reminder that tonight was different, and she wondered how many surprises it would take for her to fully absorb the fact that they were really doing this.

…

Meanwhile, Natsu was having a ball. A totally drunk, runaway ball…

Her sweet smell was like a drug, and it sucked him in so thoroughly that he couldn't smell anything else even if it had walked right up and sprayed him in the nose. His head was so full of her he couldn't even think, but he kept a small part of himself aware that he needed to have at least a little sanity until that potion took effect, otherwise this would go the way she was obviously worried about.

He was pretty confident he could at least keep his dick in his pants till then, but everything else was going to be a little harder to control….

Though, it would probably be easier to keep himself under control if he kept his hands off her. But that idea was dismissed almost as soon as it came, because he knew he couldn't stop. He was already too far gone.

Her lips were way too damn soft, and he fuzzily wondered how she'd gotten them so soft. Of course, the _how_ didn't really matter… nah… all that mattered was that he never stopped kissing them.

But soon, those kisses weren't enough for him anymore, and her mouth was too closed for him to really get inside it. She was a little tensed up, probably with those nerves she'd been talking about, and it was affecting how she kissed him back. So, he nipped her bottom lip, which surprised her into gasping, and that let him deepen the kiss into tongue territory.

Ever since she had introduced him to tongue kissing, he'd quickly grown addicted to it. The sensation was incredible - though it'd taken some getting used to - and he loved her flavor even though it changed every time he kissed her depending on what she ate.

And she seemed to like it too, judging by the small sounds that came from her throat every now and then as he kissed her. Those tiny noises were also something he'd gotten addicted to, and he was really looking forward to seeing what other kinds of sounds he could pull from her… now that he could do so much more than just kiss her.

Speaking of…maybe they should move this somewhere more comfy, 'cause he was kinda crushing Lucy up against the arm of the couch, and that couldn't feel great. With that thought in mind, he managed to yank his lips away from hers long enough to eyeball the bed, judging the distance for a split second. Deciding it was worth it, he got off her – which felt like a mistake until he grabbed her up into his arms and squeezed her close to his chest.

When he scooped her up, she wrapped her arms around his neck and made a super cute high-pitched sound of surprise.

"Natsu! What are you…oh."

She got the picture when he walked the few steps it took to get across the room, turned around, and then sat on the bed, putting her in his lap. Of course, their new position – her sitting sideways on his lap – probably wasn't the most comfortable for her either, but that'd be fixed soon enough.

But for right now, he couldn't stop himself from kissing her again. To do that, he moved his hand from her shoulder and slid it up her back to the base of her skull – making sure his forearm pressed to her spine to help support her weight. That gave him control over her head, and he gently cranked her face up and to the side so he could claim her lips.

Since she didn't protest, he figured the position didn't strain her neck too much, but his lips must have landed a little too hard on hers, because she grunted and pulled back a bit. Well… she _tried_ to pull back, but failed since he was holding her head. Still, he'd felt the movement in his palm, so he knew what she'd intended. As soon as his pressure lightened up, she softened her lips and responded to his kiss again, quickly opening for him when he tapped her mouth with his tongue.

That delighted him way more than it probably should have, and he eagerly dove back in.

…

As for Lucy, she was more than a little overwhelmed.

The difference between the way Natsu was acting now and before was like night and day, and she suspected that she'd barely scratched the surface of this new side of him. She had thought his kisses were passionate before tonight, but they had been kittens in comparison to the tigers that he'd unleashed on her now. His lips moved almost aggressively, forcing hers to submit because there was no way she could match him, and his tongue was busy bossing hers around with nearly violent thrusts that felt like it was pretending to be something else.

It would have been too rough and would have turned her off completely, if he hadn't been changing up his style almost constantly. The dominating lip-locks were interspersed with softer, lighter kisses and featherlight teasing licks that were too quick for her to respond to. He also mixed in some nips for surprise and deeper, slower kisses that felt like she was being drugged.

The consequence of his constant switching around was that she was kept continuously off balance, and it took all her concentration just to properly respond to his kisses with her own. She was paying so much attention to her lips, that she failed to notice that her bottom half was slowly slipping down his legs, until he hooked his free hand over her hip and pulled her back up, pressing her hip to his and her thigh into his groin.

Something hard dug into her thigh and she had no doubt what it was… especially when Natsu hissed into her mouth. Muscles that were normally asleep clenched, and she had the sudden urge to reach down and investigate the lump with her fingers. That didn't seem like a great idea though before the potion had kicked in, so she held back from following through with the urge.

He froze and his fingers clenched tight on her hip… but after a second, his mouth resumed its frantic kisses, an extra edge making them even more desperate. After a few more moments of breathless kissing, she had to pull back though, because her neck was cramping and she really couldn't breathe.

Thankfully he let her go so she could gasp in a few much-needed gulps of air and twist her head back on in the right direction to relieve her aching neck. However, Natsu retaliated by grabbing a fistful of hair at the base of her skull and pulling down, forcing her to arch over his arm. It was done in such a way that it didn't hurt, but it also wasn't really negotiable. Understandably, it shocked her silly, and she yelped a little as she was basically bent over backwards. His lips landed on her neck and started a very thorough and scalding search… punctuated with laps of his tongue, nips from teeth that shouldn't be so sharp, and sucking that she was sure would leave many marks tomorrow. He started at her chin and moved down slowly, covering every bit of skin he could reach with his thorough treatment.

By the time he reached her collarbones, she was squirming from discomfiture at the amazingly awkward position that shoved her breasts up into the air as if they were an offering. But embarrassment wasn't the only reason for her squirming…. she was also very aroused by now. It felt like a normal level of excitement though, so she was pretty sure the potion hadn't kicked in yet.

His hand eventually released her hair and shifted to holding her in place by gripping her left shoulder instead. At first she cranked her neck up to try and peer down at him, but when one of his eyes cracked open and he shot her a look out of the corner of it – a look conveying a wealth of heated words that all would have made her pass out from overstimulation – she squeaked, blushed tomato red, and let her head flop back over his arm.

She was almost positive that she felt a silent chuckle reverberate on her skin under his lips, which only made her flush harder. By now, he had made it to the tops of her breasts and was giving them the same treatment he'd given her neck and chest. His hand on her hip made a quick journey up to the neckline of her blouse, and with a swift jerk and blast of heat she had a much lower cut shirt that exposed her entire chest.

She yelped and squirmed – which forced his fingers to dig back into her hip to keep her on his lap – but before she could really work up words to protest the destruction of her clothes, he had bitten into the upper curve of her breast and sucked, which cut her off as she yelped in a different way. Her protests were never voiced, because she ended up getting too involved in the sensation of hot tongue, teeth, and lips traveling over her chest around her bra – which was fairly low cut so he had a decent amount of ground to work with.

It all felt amazing, but soon enough, a new discomfort made itself known as her back began to protest being bent nearly in half, and she started squirming for real. "N-Na-ah-tsu…" she stuttered, having a hard time getting the word out when he nipped her in the middle of it. "L-Let go…my back…"

She didn't even have to say that it was starting to cramp up, because he was already releasing her. As soon as the restraining hands let go, she slithered out of his grip and somehow ended up standing with her back to him, though her legs felt like jelly and almost collapsed on her.

…

Natsu saw that of course, and quickly made room for her on the bed by shoving the bag of toys off it. They could dig through it later. Then he looped his arm around her hips and tugged backwards, forcing her to drop backwards onto the bed next to him. She landed on her back with a loud squawk and then lay there, staring up at him with wide eyes. Her shirt gaped open - exposing her pretty pink lacy bra that he really kinda wanted to chew off her - and she was panting, which made her breasts bob up and down like they were begging for attention.

But then his eyes traveled down her body and he got stuck looking at something else.

They were sideways on the bed, so the lower half of their legs were still dangling off it… and that gave him a truly bad idea that he was sure Lucy was going to slap him for.

But he just couldn't resist.

In an instant, he'd slipped off the bed and was kneeling in front of her. But before he went through with his plan, her shoes caught his attention, and he decided to go ahead and get rid of them first. There was a good chance that what he was about to do might end in her trying to Lucy Kick him, and he didn't really wanna be stabbed with a high heel.

While he was fussing with the stupid tiny clasps that held the straps around her ankles, he felt her shifting and figured she was probably sitting up on her elbows to watch him. A glance up showed him that he was right, and he sent her what he hoped was a reassuring a smile. It probably wasn't.

Her eyes darkened in a way that had his pulse skyrocket, and she bit her lips…which almost made him give up on his task and go back up there so he could kiss her. But something else kept him where he was. That same heavenly aroma that he remembered from when he was in heat was taunting his nose, and he quickly ran out of patience with the damn shoes and melted the metal buckles – though he was careful not to burn her in the process. They were off and across the room before she could see the damage he'd inflicted.

And then he was pressing his lips to her knees, which she abruptly clamped tight for some reason. That didn't dissuade him from tasting her skin though, and he went a little nutty over the flavor. Unlike her mouth, he'd discovered that the skin on the rest of her body tasted faintly like her scent. It was sort of sweet in a way he doubted anyone but a dragon slayer would pick up on. That was probably because her scent was influencing his taste buds, but he didn't care at all about the hows or whys of it. All he knew was that he couldn't get enough.

But there was something else he wanted to taste even more, and he followed his nose up towards the source. Because she refused to open her knees, he ended up arched over her legs as he pressed kisses up her thighs towards that musky intoxicating smell, and his palms followed on the outsides of her legs.

Soon he was at the edge of her short skirt, and his fingers knotted in it for a moment before sliding up and landing very firmly on her hips. As his face pressed into her lap, he heard her squeak in a way that he had already figured out meant she was either surprised, embarrassed, or a combination of the two. In this case, he suspected both.

But he was way too preoccupied with her scent to waste any time worrying about that.

Sure enough, as soon as he'd buried his nose in her crotch, he knew his hunch was right and it was coming from her 'pussy' – if he was right about how people used that word. He'd heard a lot of different terms for that female body part, but 'pussy' seemed to be the most common. For a second, he randomly wondered if she called it that, or if she had a different word for it, but he didn't really want to stop what he was doing to ask.

He could do that in a bit. Right now, he was on a mission to get to the source of that smell.

…

Up a few feet was Lucy… who was thoroughly freaking out. She was pretty sure she knew what he was doing, since his nose was burrowed into her skirt and he was taking deep inhales that said he was following a particular scent. In this case, she was 99.99999 percent sure that he had caught the scent of her arousal and was now hunting it like a bloodhound. Based off the way he'd reacted to it when he was in heat, she knew it turned him on, so she really shouldn't have been surprised.

She halfway expected it when his fingers on her hips abruptly bunched in the fabric under them and ripped downwards, nearly giving her a skirt burn on her thighs. It still came as a shock though when her lower half was suddenly much breezier than it had been a second before. The speed – and a distinct ripping sound – suggested that her lower garments had bitten the dust.

There were so many things to protest, that she started stumbling over her tongue. "Hey! Now just wait a…you don't have to go ripping my clothes off! I mean…literally! And would it kill you to ask for permission first? Are you listening to…hey! Natsu! Don't…wait…come on…pay attention to…I said wait! Don't do that!"

He had burrowed his face into her – now bare – lap, and she clamped her thighs so tightly together that they started to shake from the effort.

Yes, the suggested activity had come to mind when she'd considered what might take place on their first night together… and yes, the thought of him going down on her turned her on to a ridiculous degree. But it was also more than a little unnerving to imagine his nose and mouth and tongue touching her there… where he would be able to see and smell and feel and _taste_ her in a way she couldn't even do to herself. What if she looked weird down there up close?

Not to mention, it also seemed sort of unclean – and of course, she abruptly remembered that she hadn't taken a shower earlier when she said she would. What if she had bits of toilet paper stuck to her lady bits? What if she was dirty? Or smelly? Or taste weird? There were just too many ifs, and she simply hadn't psyched herself up enough for this particular activity.

He paid exactly zero attention to her protests though, and soon his hands were clamped to her knees. When he started prying them apart, she sat up completely and grabbed onto his hair, yanking hard enough that he should have been pulled from her lap. He didn't move so much as an inch.

"Natsu! Stop it right now!"

He finally cocked his head, pressing his cheek into her thigh so he could look up at her with one eye. Thankfully it was only flecked with gold, indicating that he was still mostly in control of his lust.

"What's the fuss about Luce?"

"What exactly are you doing?!"

"You know what I'm doing. I wanna get at your pussy."

_Well…_

_Yeah. _

_Obviously._

The blush that already flushed her face abruptly became much more brilliant and traveled down to her chest.

"I…I mean…yes! Obviously, but…why?! The potion hasn't kicked in yet, don't you think this is a little premature?" she was grasping at straws and she knew it. Anything to keep him from doing what she was almost positive he was about to do….

He huffed an exasperated breath, which puffed warm air over her mound, and she shivered. "It'll be fine, I just wanna taste you. I'm not gonna be taking off my pants until your ready. So just…relax a bit would ya?"

"R-relax?! I don't…um…I haven't taken a shower yet…and it's…you know…_there_…I don't think you should…uh…"

His response to that very weak stuttered protest was to bite her thigh.

It was only after she had yelped a very loud high-pitched, "Hey!" that he finally said, "Would you stop being weird and just open your legs already? I don't care if you've showered or not. It just means your scent will be stronger."

That didn't seem like a good thing to her, but the way he said it made it very clear that _he _thought it was a good thing. His hands went back to prying at her legs, and there was no fighting him this time. So she decided that retreat was in order and used her hands to crabwalk her butt as far back on the bed as she could. Her legs thrashed in his hold and she managed to get free long enough to knee him in the chin. When his teeth clicked together she winced, feeling a little bad about it…but not _**too**_ bad. He was the one being too pushy after all, so he kind of deserved it.

Something that sounded a lot like the growl of a very dangerous and pissed-off animal came from his chest, and he quickly caught one of her ankles as she scrambled on the bed. He used his grip to drag her right back to the edge and quickly secured a hold on her other leg. Almost instantly, his hands were on her knees and had forced them apart, then wedged his shoulders between them.

She winced and shivered as cool air hit her privates, and that ever-present blush flushed hotter… not that there _was_ a hotter setting on it. She was pretty sure her blush had already maxed out a while ago, and now she just got extra hot flashes whenever something particularly embarrassing happened.

"Don't stare at me there! It's embarrassing!" she whined, her voice coming out several octaves too high and squeaky.

When her hands snuck down to try and cover herself, he batted her away with one hand, easily fending her off no matter what she did. His other hand had latched onto her hip and was keeping her glued in place, while his shoulders did the job of keeping her spread for him. When her knees came up and tried to close, he shoved one back with an elbow and bit the other when her knee got too close to his head.

"What are you? An animal?! Stop biting me!" she growled, now getting a little cranky.

He just shot her the briefest glance before his eyes zipped right back down to focus on her privates, but she still got the very clear message that her protest had amused him.

Well. Alright then.

'_Let's see how amused he is by this!_' she thought as she brought her leg back up to her chest – giving up on modesty – and then bunny-kicked him in the face. It landed in his palm, and he just used his new grip to push her leg up and to the side, which opened her even more.

And then his head was ducking in, despite her protests of. "What are you doing?! Don't do that! It's dirty! I told you I didn't take a shower!"

In the end, all she could do was just scrunch her eyes closed and grumble to herself as he did precisely what he wanted and completely ignored her. Lips landed on her inner thigh for a light kiss that she thought might have been a brief apology for being such a bullheaded ass, and then they shifted to the side and started exploring her lady bits.

It felt…. well to be honest, it just kind of felt like when she'd explored herself with her fingers, only a softer more plush version. There was a slight rasp of chapped skin, which was different, and the movement was certainly different. Fingers couldn't make any sort of pursing or kissing motion as far as she knew. But overall it was a very similar sensation.

Maybe she had read too many romance novels, because for some reason in the back of her mind she'd expected fireworks or something as soon as his mouth connected with her downstairs. Not so much. When his tongue came out though, that definitely felt a little different, and she wiggled a bit as he licked her from bottom to top to spread her inner lips. He pulled back just a little to look at it, and then dove back in, focusing on her opening.

…

While Lucy was busy dealing with her embarrassment and surprise, Natsu was in heaven.

He'd found the source of that smell, and the taste was even better than he could have possibly imagined. It was salty, a little tart, and sweet in the same way her skin was sweet. The slippery stuff tasted super mild, but her skin down here was musky and strong and absolutely intoxicating.

Without deciding to, he started lapping at her… until she squirmed in a way that suggested it was getting uncomfortable. At that point, he lightened his touch, not wanting to rub her raw. When his unthinking rhythm broke, he took the opportunity to explore and investigated her folds more thoroughly. He'd already briefly gone over the territory with his lips, but this time he went at it with his tongue and also sucked on the bits and pieces whenever he felt like it.

A yelp told him he'd hit something different when he reached the top, and he pulled back a second to eyeball the landscape and try to identify what he'd messed with. All the folds converged at one place, and that had seemed to be where she'd jumped. To help out with the investigation, he looped his arm under her thigh so he could get his hand around to her pussy, and after some poking and prodding, he noticed there was a little fold of skin at the top. Messing with it told him that there was something underneath.

It took some more pulling and pushing to figure out how to slide up what turned out to be a little hood, and he finally exposed a small bead of flesh.

"Oi…Luce? Is this that clit thing you were talking about earlier?" he asked as he eyeballed it.

"Um…yes. Please be very gentle with it…like, maybe don't touch it…"

She'd said it was very sensitive, and the nervousness in her tone reminded him of that. There was no way he was leaving it alone though, because she had made it clear that this was the key to making her orgasm, but he also resolved to be very, very careful with it. With that in mind, he dropped the hood back over it and started exploring the area with his mouth, which got a few new and interesting motions from her body. Her legs twitched from time to time, and her hips squirmed and even bucked against him, which made his belly tighten with heat.

Whatever he was doing seemed to be making her feel really good at first, but after a while she went still, as if she'd gotten used to it or something.

…

Which was about what had happened. The first touched of his tongue and him sucking and kissing at her clit had felt amazing. But soon enough, she reached that plateau that she always did with her fingers – where it still felt good, but sort of stagnated. Some of the stuff he did felt amazing, but he was sporadic and constantly changed things up, both location and technique. It wasn't enough to get her any closer to orgasming and ended up just frustrating her.

Not that she _wanted_ to orgasm while he was nose-to-nose with her lady parts... just that thought alone was enough to stop her cold in her tracks on the arousal train.

So she ended up on her back, staring blearily up at the ceiling and wondering how long he was going to be down there. It was an odd situation to find herself in. The awkward contemplation was cut off though when something new caught her attention. She didn't have much warning… just a brief warming and tightening, and then suddenly something clamped down on her uterus. It was such an intense sensation that it registered as pain, and her hands clutched at her belly as she grunted with surprise and discomfort.

Natsu immediately perceived the difference and surfaced, asking, "Luce? You okay? What's wrong?"

Someone else might have thought she was orgasming, but he knew she was in discomfort and let her go, which she was infinitely grateful for. Her body automatically curled up and rolled into a ball on her side as she dealt with the strange ache – which, now that she analyzed it, felt almost like period cramps. The bed bounced and a warm hand landed on her back, telling her that Natsu was now behind her.

The cramping stopped soon after it started, and she slowly let her muscles go lax as she took a few deep breaths to try and collect herself.

"You okay?" Natsu asked again as he lowered himself down and curled his body against hers to spoon her. He must have been propped up on an elbow though, because she could feel his breath on her face as he leaned over her.

"Yeah…I think so…I don't know what happened…maybe the potion is kicking in?"

That was the only thing that made sense, and it became more likely as a new sensation reared its head. The cramping was replaced by throbbing in her lower bits. It felt like every beat of her heart was reflected by a throb in her groin, and each pulse seemed a little stronger than the last… as if her privates were being filled with blood. Which was probably exactly what was going on.

She also slowly grew hyper aware of her skin… especially certain parts, like her breasts pressing into the comforter and her arms, and her bare behind rubbing against Natsu's pants. It felt like her skin had grown more sensitive, and that idea was confirmed when she squirmed a little. Either being hyper aware of her skin was making it sensitive, or her nerves themselves were working overtime, because she was definitely feeling more than she should be.

Her heart had settled down some during the strange lull while Natsu was going down on her – after she'd grown used to it – but now it pounded hard against her ribcage… not necessarily fast, but stronger somehow. And speaking of blood, the throbbing downstairs was starting to centralize in two spots. Her clit was pulsing strongly to the beat of her heart, and she'd never been quite so aware of it outside of masturbating. It almost felt like it was getting itself off… each pulse was a little more pleasurable than the last, and it was starting to set up residence inside her brain almost like an intense bug bite that she had to scratch. The urge to touch herself began to grow, but she held back, feeling embarrassed and self-conscious.

Her vagina was also taking up a good amount of mental real-estate, as she started to feel…weird and achy in a way she was unfamiliar with. It was like she needed something there, and assumed her body was telling her it wanted to be filled even though she wasn't familiar with the feeling.

Soon she was shifting around, her thighs squeezing and moving back and forth automatically to try and give herself a little relief. As soon as she realized what she was doing though, she stopped, suddenly quite flustered. This potion was affecting her body, and her body affected her mind, but the potion itself wasn't making her mind fuzzy like she'd expected, so she was just as aware of her actions as she would have been without the potion. She had really thought that it would almost act like a glass of wine on her inhibitions… but no such luck apparently.

…

Of course Natsu was easily picking up on the changes in her scent and had noticed how her body language was shifting from pained to something else entirely.

He figured the potion was taking effect now and grinned in a way he knew was probably a little nasty, but he couldn't help it. Just to be careful though, he wanted to make sure that he was right, because he didn't want to start something and find out the potion hadn't kicked in yet. So, he tested her and ran his fingers over her hip. She shivered, and then shivered even harder and gasped when he nipped her shoulder.

He kissed down her shoulder and then nuzzled into the bundle of hair covering her neck and the side of her head.

"Hey Luce…is the potion taking effect?"

"U-um…yeah. I believe so."

She'd tried to make her voice level, but he heard the shakiness that said she was very affected by what was going on…and was apparently trying to hide it for some reason.

So far, he'd been getting a kick out of her embarrassment and shyness…. he found it super cute and pretty damn funny at the same time. But even though it was adorable, he also wanted to see her relax and let herself enjoy being with him. He couldn't wait to experience all the hidden sides of Lucy that she'd never shown anyone else.

With that thought in mind, he grabbed her shoulder and rolled her over so he could get a look at her. When she kept her face turned away from him, he huffed in frustration and slipped his hand under her head to force her to look at him…. and then his brain went totally numb when he saw her expression.

She was flushed, and it was more splotchy and painful looking than before, like her body was overheating. Her eyes were heavy-lidded and dark, but also watery and a little scrunched up, which made her look like she was aroused to the point of being really uncomfortable. Her lips were parted to let her pant heavily, and he could see her pulse beating hard in the dip of her throat. Everything about her screamed '_I am really, really, really horny…please fuck me right now, or I'm gonna die._'

He felt dazed for a minute, and then lust roared in his head and body and he felt his control snap.

…

Lucy saw the exact moment that he lost it. His eyes had been flickering with gold the entire time, but they abruptly shifted to solid fire and his gaze became predatory. To her intense relief, she could still see him in there – so it wasn't like last time where he wasn't Natsu anymore…. but it was close enough to make her tense up and gasp as he pounced on her.

They were still sideways on the bed, and she started scrambling to try and fix that, but Natsu was making it very difficult. His lips on hers drained a lot of her fight, and he held her head so she couldn't get away and tell him what she was trying to do. Thanks to her new hypersensitivity, the kiss felt even better than before and she was slowly consumed by it… forgetting all about her legs dangled off the bed.

Soon, all she could think about was kissing him back, and her hips squirmed as the throbbing downstairs increased to an uncomfortable degree. By now, she was growing desperate for something to touch her there, and her embarrassment was fading fast in the face of her needs. When Natsu pulled away from her mouth, she made some sort of ridiculous sound that was probably in the family of a whimper or a whine.

Suddenly he was off the bed entirely and was on the floor between her legs again. He stared for a few long seconds and then basically attacked her with his mouth. The sensation was so much more intense than last time that it shocked another sound from her throat… this one definitely a surprised moan. A little leftover modesty made her slap a hand over her mouth, but she kept whimpering into her palm as he sucked on her clit. It was so damn sensitive now that any contact felt amazing, and she bucked, feeling it throb. A coil in her groin wound tight, poised to snap… but before it could, Natsu was leaving her, and she just barely managed to fight down what would have been quite a few very loud protests.

She was distracted though when he got back on the bed, grabbed her hips, and shoved her up and around so they were on the bed straight. Her hair and the remains of her shirt hung under her, so she had to get her elbows involved in the process and walked back on them as he relocated them. Before she could point out that he'd nearly ripped her hair out and given her rope burns with her tattered blouse, he was landing on top of her between her legs, and any protests she may have made died in her throat.

A rough grind of his hips had her yelping, and her legs immediately snapped up and locked onto him.

The cloth of his pants was rough and abraded her sensitive flesh in a way that was unpleasant, but the pressure felt so good…way, _waaay_ too good. There was no way in hell she'd get off from this normally, but right now she thought it would be fairly easy. However, as soon as she bucked her hips up, he pulled back yet again, and this time she definitely growled out her displeasure.

His response was to bite her neck, and the sharp sting was surprisingly pleasurable in her current state. It also distracted her as he apparently shoved his pants down, because when his hips fell back between her thighs, the contact was skin on skin and she gasped in shock. His penis ground down against her clit, and it felt so damn good that she could have easily orgasmed from it… but of course only a few strokes later he'd found her opening.

At the feeling of him there, she had a mild flashback from the last time and felt a zing of fear snap her in the butt, making her clench up tight with nerves. Even so, he shoved forwards, seating himself in her with one long stroke, and she couldn't help but gasp in shock. It definitely didn't hurt - though she could feel herself stretching to accommodate him - but overall, it felt astonishingly good. A million nerves she hadn't known existed woke up and made their presence known all at once, and that throbbing and aching from before suddenly made sense. _This_ was what she'd been wanting, and all her muscles down there clenched spastically around him as if they weren't sure what to do about the insanely pleasurable invasion.

It felt so good that she found herself clenching her teeth and squeezing her eyes closed to try and deal with it.

…

Meanwhile, Natsu had somehow snagged a shred of control after sliding in… probably because the sensation was such a shock. That, and Lucy's face had scrunched up, and he couldn't tell whether it was with pleasure or pain.

"You okay Luce?" he rumbled, feeling his voice come weirdly from his chest.

He didn't know how much longer he could stay still… that tiny sliver of control was wearing thin quick. It got a little thicker though when he noticed how her closed eyes were watering.

"You're crying…. am I hurting you?"

She shook her head. "N-no…doesn't hurt."

Her voice wobbled, and he wasn't entirely convinced… especially with her wet eyelashes.

"You sure?"

Her answer was a hum that sounded like a whimper, and he groaned in response, hoping like hell that she wasn't lying.

"Gonna move…feels so good…I can't help it…"

The words tumbled out without his say-so as his hips started moving on their own. His control was slipping fast now that she'd refused to protest. She was so warm and tight and wet around him, a thousand times better than his fist – and when he started to move, the slippery grip and slide of it made him just about lose his fucking mind. It was better than fire, or food, or fighting… and he could easily see himself getting addicted.

He pulled out and then slowly pushed back in, struggling with himself to try and keep it gentle when he really just wanted to pound in. Her response was instant. A small choked sound came from her chest… and she bucked violently under him… and all those crazy inner-muscles wrapped tight and squeezed rhythmically again, like they had when he'd first entered her.

It felt so damn good that he lost a little more control, and his hips roughly snapped forwards a couple of times – which drew a louder cry from Lucy, and her insides spasmed some more.

That had definitely sounded like a moan to him, and he lost the rest of his control. He couldn't stop himself from moving faster, intoxicated by the feel of her insides grabbing onto him as if she didn't want him to leave. More of those sounds came from her chest, and he watched as she turned her head to the side and buried it in the pillow she pulled to her.

That was not okay, and he quickly grabbed the pillow. "Don't hide, Luce…wanna see your face…" he panted.

When she kept her head turned to the side, he cupped it with a hand and turned it towards him, and then got a little alarmed when he felt moisture on his palm. He stuttered to a stop, worried again that she was crying from pain or something.

"Look at me…come on Luce…open your eyes." he pleaded, needing to see her eyes to know if she was hurting or not. "You sure it doesn't hurt?...you're still crying…."

At that, her eyes finally opened, and she stared up at him with a glassy watery expression he'd never seen before. A coil of heat settled in his belly and wound tight at the sight of her glazed hooded eyes and how her pupils were blown wide, making her brown eyes look almost black. More tears slipped out once they were open, which startled him, but her expression left no doubts about how she was feeling.

…

As she stared blearily up at him, she wished her eyes would stop watering. They were making him worry, and it was embarrassing and weird.

She hadn't even known this was a thing that could happen… but apparently if something felt overwhelmingly good, her eyes watered. '_You learn something new every day_,' she thought somewhat sardonically.

Now she just had to convince Natsu of that fact - as embarrassing as it was - so he would stop stopping.

"N-no! It feels good…really, really good…so good that my eyes are watering…I'm not crying…just…keep going…"

Almost before she was done, his flickering eyes were burning gold again and his hips had snapped forwards, cutting her off on a moan that she tried to stifle with her hand. Damn it…why did she have to make such stupid noises? If only it didn't feel quite so good, maybe she could keep quiet…. but it did, and there was nothing she could do about that. He was rubbing against spots inside her that lit up with a deep kind of pleasure she'd never felt before, as if she was melting from the inside out while simultaneously winding tighter and tighter… like a knot of lava had taken up residence in her pelvis. A couple of places practically sung when he hit them, and every time he did, she bucked up and unconsciously tilted her hips to help him reach those sweet spots.

It was amazing… the only slight problem was an urge to pee that was slowly mounting inside her, and she had to clamp down even tighter to prevent any accidents. He must be bumping into her bladder or something… though she didn't know how that could feel so weirdly good…. and also didn't really have enough brain power to think about it. As he slammed into that same spot again, getting rougher and rougher, she made another sound and clamped her hand over her mouth again.

Her wrist was grabbed, and Natsu yanked her hand off her mouth. "I wanna hear you…don't cover up your sounds…wanna hear them all…wanna make you get even louder…fuck Luce…so damn hot…"

Natsu was turning out to have quite the mouth on him in bed. In fact, she got the distinct feeling that he would be talking a lot more if he wasn't so busy growling – which was probably a result of the frenzy. She flushed red, still unused to hearing him say stuff like that, but she was quickly finding out that she liked it a lot more than she thought she would have.

Knowing that he was turned on by her sounds helped her feel a little less silly about them, so when he grabbed her hips and his thrusts picked up in speed, she didn't bother trying to hide her gasps and soft moans. Almost immediately, his lips landed over hers and he swallowed those noises. Strangely, moaning into his mouth was more intimate than she'd expected, and it somehow turned her on even more… which she'd thought was impossible at this point.

Then another stab in her belly reminded her of her problem, and she pulled back and sputtered, "Not so fast…slow down a little…I'm gonna…you're gonna make me…you've gotta…"

It was unclear if her words got across to him, since they were muffled by his mouth, which he refused to remove from hers. If anything, his thrusts seemed to get faster, and she whimpered as that weird coil tightened even more in her belly. It almost felt like she was about to orgasm… but it was very different. Her moans got a little louder as the pleasure increased, but also grew desperate as she tried to keep herself from peeing.

And then Natsu was sitting up and had grabbed her hips so he could lift her a little and pound into her from a new angle that made her see stars. She gripped onto the covers under her and yelped, "W-wait! Don't…!"

It was too late though, that coil had wound one turn too tight and snapped. With a sound louder than the others, she… did something. She honestly didn't know what had happened… it wasn't an orgasm… or if it was, it was totally different from the ones she'd ever had before. A wave of pleasure washed over her, coming from deep inside, and it felt like a bolt of lightning had zapped her in the vagina. But most embarrassingly, she abruptly lost control over what she thought was her bladder. Fluid gushed out of her in a wave of warmth that felt so good she choked a little and her eyes streamed. Her face and chest burned, her heart pounded, and her breath came in gasps that made her feel like she was hyperventilating.

It was amazing, and embarrassing, and weird, and confusing, but she didn't have a chance to really process it, because whatever had just happened apparently really turned Natsu on. Within seconds, he was yanking on her as he thrusted, pounding into her so hard and fast it was almost painful…but not quite. It still felt blindingly good, and she felt that coil start to tighten again as he continued to ram into all those spots that had made her do – _whatever that was_ – last time.

He'd stopped talking entirely and was constantly growling – loudly – in a way that made her worry someone would think she was being attacked by an animal. It was a good thing her apartment building had very thick walls. Then his snarls spiked in volume and he tipped forwards, plastering his body to hers. A few jerky thrusts later, he was tensing up and his teeth had clamped onto her shoulder as he released. She felt him pulse and kick inside her as he came, and she shuddered, finding it outrageously arousing and intimate.

They stayed locked together like that for a long moment, and then his body went limp, nearly squashing her into the mattress. It never failed to surprise her just how heavy he was… but it was kind of nice, and she pressed her cheek to his and panted over his shoulder, hoping they could stay like this for a little while.

After a moment, he pulled out and lifted up onto his elbows to stare down at her. She flushed, finding the scrutiny and eye-contact a little awkward… as well as very intimate in an almost intimidating way. He watched her squirm and blush for a bit and then grinned and chuckled.

"What?" she grumbled, pouting at him as he laughed at her.

"Just wondering how long that shyness will last." he commented and nipped her nose.

She snorted and swatted at him in retaliation. That movement jostled them both a little though, and she was abruptly reminded of the huge wet spot now parked under her butt. She was instantly overcome with intense embarrassment and promptly blushed, groaned, and threw an arm over her eyes.

"What is it now?"

"I can't believe I…."

"What?"

"You know! When I…I… Gah! I can't even say it! I had no idea that could happen. I'll make sure to go to the bathroom first next time so it doesn't happen again…"

"What are you going on about?"

She peeked at him from under her arm, shocked that he didn't know what she was talking about. "Come on Natsu! You're the one with a nose like a bloodhound…you had to smell it when I…peed."

He frowned down at her and got his face closer to hers so he could look up under her arm and meet her eyes. "I still don't know what you're talking about. You didn't piss…I would've smelled it. Like you said."

That had her arm coming off her face so she could look him straight in the eyes. "What?! But…I did. I…all that fluid came out…and it felt like I was…what do you mean it wasn't pee?! What else could it have been?!"

"You don't believe me?" he questioned with a look that she should have known was bad news.

When she shook her head, he smirked and was suddenly scooting down her body. Before she could protest, he had shoved her legs open and was nose deep in her groin. When his tongue snaked over her, she was abruptly reminded that she hadn't actually orgasmed yet. The thing earlier had been some sort of release and had dulled her need just a little - or satisfied it in a different way to be more specific - but a tap to her clit made her jump and moan as it throbbed and cussed at her, telling her in no uncertain terms that she needed to orgasm.

It was enough to make her mind thoroughly fuzzy. So, by the time he was back up near her head, it took her a moment to refocus on the matter at hand, and she didn't care nearly as much about it as before.

"Nope, definitely not urine of any kind. Smelled totally different and tasted totally different too. It wasn't bitter at all. So whatever happened, you didn't pee." He paused and then added, "Wait… I thought you came when you squirted like that… But you're saying you don't know what happened, right?"

She decided to not ask why he knew what pee tasted like, and just answered his question. "Yeah…not a clue. It felt good, and was sort of like an orgasm, but it wasn't one. I really thought I'd peed the bed."

"So then, if that's not the normal kind of orgasm you experience… you haven't come yet have you?" he concluded, and she flushed bright red.

"Um… right."

"Then we need to fix that. How do I make you come?"

She bit her lip, both embarrassed and unbearably aroused. Her modesty – and the shyness and embarrassment that went with it – had been coming and going this entire time of course, but it was definitely starting to kick the bucket. This time, the arousal won out over her sense of modesty, hands down.

"I, uh… I'm so close that just rubbing my clit a little will probably do it. I haven't had any luck with that so far, but right now I think anything would do it."

"Really? Okay…" he slid up next to her and then lay down, slipping his arm under her shoulders and reaching the other hand down her belly.

Before he touched her though, she unthinkingly asked, "I thought you wouldn't be able to do this kind of stuff though… what happened to you going into some kind of frenzy?"

She kicked herself when his fingers stopped inches above her curls and he answered her. "Since I just came inside you, the frenzy has chilled out a little. It'll be back in full force here in a second though, so I wanna get you off before it hits me again."

And with that, his hand was moving south again. As soon as his fingers burrowed into her folds, she bucked and groaned, her eyes squeezing shut. One of her hands ended up tangled in the covers by her hip, while the other grabbed onto his arm. The pads of his fingers wiggled around until they landed on her clit, and then he started rubbing it up and down, which she knew from experience usually wasn't enough to get her off…. but with that potion in her system, it felt incredible. It felt like she'd been dying to be touched, and the relief was so profound that she didn't know what to do with herself. Her moans started to sound a little more like sobs, and her legs tensed up to the point that her toes curled into the blanket.

"Does that feel good?" Natsu asked, his voice right by her ear and gently teasing in a way that made her belly coil tight. Damn him and his talking… it was going to be the death of her. She still found herself nodding in answer though, and her nails bit into his skin.

He growled and rumbled, "Then come for me."

And that was all she wrote. The coil of tension in her belly snapped again, this time sending her spiraling into the kind of orgasm she was familiar with. With a cry she came, her clit burning and sending blistering pleasure through her nerves, and her insides clamping on nothing over and over, each contraction sending a new wave of pleasure through her groin. Her thighs clenched tight over his hand and she convulsed, whining when he pulled his hand free before she was done. Her pleasure tapered sharply - the orgasm getting cut short - and she growled in frustration.

Suddenly Natsu was leaning over her, reaching for something and flattening her out under him in the process, and then he was back and had rolled them over so she was on top. Her insides were still pulsing – though it was more wishful thinking than anything else since her orgasm was over prematurely, leaving her clit throbbing and overly sensitive. She desperately wanted to come again, but was too sensitive to do it right away, which was so annoying…

Before she could enlighten Natsu about this little fact, he was already sliding up inside her, and her comments got hung on a moaned, "Wh-wha…again? Already?"

She clamped on him, the feeling of having him inside her restarting those contractions to a small degree. It felt amazing, and she rocked a little on him, testing it out. He hissed and grabbed her hips.

"Hold on, I want you to try this thing out." he rasped, holding up the little clit button toy.

Her eyes widened and she gulped, not expecting to use any of those tonight. The idea was intriguing though… especially after the half-orgasm she'd just had.

"But…um…I'm too sensitive right now…"

"Eh, just put it on and we'll play around with it."

She bit her lip and took the little device from him before glancing down to where they were joined. The lust fogging her brain made the decision for her and she leaned back, pulling a moan from him as she tilted so she could get to her clit. After parting her folds and placing it directly on top, he pressed the button and it attached to her with a bunch of little legs.

And then he was thrusting up into her, and she let go of her groin to brace herself against his chest. This position hit different spots inside her… and even better, she was in charge of the angle. She rocked on him as he thrusted up, and soon she found a spot that made her see stars like before and groaned softly. Her shyness had apparently been left behind when she orgasmed, and it hadn't caught up to her again yet… so she was free to move as much as she wanted. Not only did it feel good, but when she opened her eyes she abruptly found herself staring down into Natsu's face, and suddenly grew fascinated by his expression.

His eyes were slits, his teeth clenched, and his neck tight. Sweat matted his hair to his forehead and - on a whim - she carded her fingers through it and pushed it out of his face, immediately noticing how his eyes rolled back and he tilted his head into her hand with obvious pleasure. It was then that she realized how he didn't hide a single thing - everything he felt played out across his face and body - and she wondered why she hadn't watched him before.

His lips parted on a sigh and words spilled out as soon as he stopped clenching his jaw.

"Luce…fuck…feels so good…"

She bit her lip and stopped moving entirely, also pressing her hand into his belly to stop him from moving too. The muscles under her palm clenched and spasmed, shivering with tension as he shuddered to a very reluctant stop. His eyes slid open and he gave her a confused look, golden sparks telling her that he was in control for the moment but that she was pushing her luck.

"What's wrong?"

Mainly she wanted to see his reaction to what she planned to do next, but another idea came to mind as well. Grabbing fistfuls of his vest, she used it to yank him up into a partially seated position.

"Take this off." she demanded, and he hurried to oblige, quickly throwing the article of clothing across the room. That just left her shirt as the last piece of cloth between them – and her bra of course.

Wondering briefly where this surge of confidence came from, she started pulling her shirt off, but when his eyes latched onto her hands and stuck - widening and darkening with lust - she slowed down just a little. He growled when he figured out that she was teasing him, and his eyes flashed gold for a second, which told her she was running out of time. With a swift tug, she whipped it and her bra over her head.

His eyes widened even more, and his lips parted, spilling out, "Damn…so sexy…so fucking beautiful…"

And suddenly she knew where her confidence was stemming from. It was in his eyes…. How could she feel self-conscious when he was staring at her like she was some kind of goddess? And when every line of his body said he was in ecstasy, all she wanted was to make him feel even more pleasure.

Of course, it didn't hurt that she was also swamped with lust.

She drew up slowly on him, watching as he gritted his teeth together and his muscles tensed up, obviously holding himself back. Those golden specks swarmed his eyes, making it clear that he was close to losing it again. Then, when she got to the tip, she stopped there, waiting to see what he would do.

What she got was Natsu asking her, "Luce…what are you doing?" in a very satisfyingly strained, choked voice that made her insides knot up with pleasure.

She just grinned, and then slammed down on him as hard as she could.

"Fuck!"

He snapped, his eyes flashing brilliant gold again, and his hands gripped onto her hips so tight she was sure she'd have bruises. That grip didn't give her a choice about rocking on him as he jackhammered up into her, and she suddenly had trouble keeping her eyes open under the onslaught. Teasing him had been fun, but this was even better.

That urge to pee came again, but it was less intense - as if he wasn't hitting the exact spot that caused it last time - so she was able to keep it contained. That was a relief in one way, but uncomfortable in another as she experienced the pressure gradually building and not releasing. Something told her it would have to be released at some point or she would have the female equivalent of blue balls until she reached the toilet…. So hopefully Natsu would be willing to take a break in a little bit.

In the meantime, she busied herself with enjoying the sensations pummeling her body and in watching Natsu's pleasured reactions. She abruptly found herself very enamored with his facial expressions and how his body moved, and once again wondered why she'd spent most of their first round with her eyes closed.

_Oh, right…it was because they'd been watering._ In fact, they were still watering, though not as much, and she pretty much ignored it in favor of watching Natsu.

His facial expressions were amazing… he went from wide-eyed to squinting to scrunching his eyes closed and back again. His mouth was the same way… switching between snarling, gritting his teeth, biting his lips, and opening to pant. And whenever his jaw wasn't clenched and he wasn't growling or moaning – both of which he was fairly loud about – he was spitting out all sorts of erotic phrases as whatever happened to go through his mind spilled out through his lips.

The rest of his body was just as mesmerizing of course, and her eyes wandered frequently to watch him move and tense up in all sorts of marvelous and wonderful ways. She was especially enamored by watching his stomach ripple and clench with his hip rolls, and she really wished she could see what his legs and ass were doing behind her.

…

Natsu happened to be just as enthralled with her as she was with him. He'd loved watching her the first time, and he was thoroughly enjoying the second as well… probably even more, now that he wasn't worried about her being in pain. Plus, she was naked this time and on top of him, so he got to watch her breasts bounce in a way they hadn't before. Damn if she didn't have a sexy chest. He found his eyes sticking to her boobs more often than not, as if their bouncing was a hypnosis tactic. When they weren't fixated on her there, they were sliding down the soft expanse of her tummy to stare at where they were joined and where he was squeezing her plush hips. They were so damn soft and squishy, he felt like turning into a cat and kneading them for a whole day…and her ass…and her chest…

Of course the sight of him disappearing and reappearing between her thighs was as erotic as things got, especially when he hoisted her with his grip and forced her to actually bounce. He switched back and forth between that and rocking her, because that sensation was incredible in a different way… like he was stirring her insides.

Naturally, the stupid thought spilled out of him without being filtered, and he ended up saying, "…fuck Luce…feels like I'm stirring you…heh…who says I can't cook?"

He figured he probably deserved the smack he got for saying such a dumb thing, but her chuckle and the resulting contractions down below made it worth it.

A grin lit up her face, and his eyes stuck there a while, loving the much more open and much less embarrassed expression she had on now. Her shy phase had been cute, but this one was hot as hell… especially when she looked at him with those burning eyes and that particular expression that said she loved watching him right back. He'd seen how she was eyeballing him, just like he was watching her, and he took a great deal of pride in how flushed and aroused she looked at the sight of him. He loved knowing that she found him sexy.

It was weird, because he hadn't ever really cared what anyone thought of him before, but it sure as hell affected him right now.

He got even more turned on and kept watching her face for a while… but eventually his eyes shifted back down to her bouncy chest. It was impossible to keep his eyes off her there for long, because her boobs were just so amazing and soft looking. At that thought, he suddenly realized that he hadn't actually touched them yet, and his hands automatically let her hips go and moved up her body.

"Shit Luce…can't believe I haven't touched you here yet…" he mumbled in wonder as his hands latched onto her chest and squeezed.

Her boobs were fucking fantastic and he was instantly addicted to the soft jiggly feel of them. She seemed to like it too as he rubbed her breasts, and she started squirming and rocking on him all on her own without him guiding her hips.

The sight and feel of it all served to push him over the edge pretty fast, though he could have held off if he'd wanted to. But since there was a whole evening of sex to be done, he didn't think it made much difference now. That burning pit of fire in his groin exploded, making his back arch as he held her hips down and ground up into her, riding the waves of insane sensation. As before, it lasted way longer than his usual orgasms and was also super intense… enough that his toes even curled, and they'd never done that before. It was blindingly good and he absolutely loved releasing into her. Something about it felt super damn intimate and wonderful.

As soon as the explosion of sensation finished, his limbs went totally limp and weak – though he knew it was a sensation that wouldn't last long thanks to the frenzy. His hands dropped to her thighs and he collapsed into the bed, gasping in breath at a rate that made him feel out of shape.

He didn't realize his eyes had closed until he opened them again when Lucy's palms landed on his chest. She sighed and then hissed as the position change shifted him inside her and made him kick and stiffen up again back to full hardness. He also sucked in some breath at the silky feel of her body moving around him and the twitch of his dick, and then he let out that air on a rumble when her inner muscles clamped on him.

Suddenly, he realized that he'd forgotten to turn on the toy she'd attached to herself.

"Well shit…I forgot about this…" he grumbled as he hunted down the remote with his hand and finally snagged it from under a pillow.

"Huh?" Lucy mumbled, and then when he showed her the remote her eyes widened.

"Oh, uh…I don't know if that's such a good idea…"

"Sure it is!"

And with that, he examined the thing and poked the button that he thought made it start vibrating or whatever. Her soft yip and a small buzz against his pubic bone told him it was on. When she started moving like she was going to get off him, he latched his free hand over her thigh and held on tight.

"Stay like that, I wanna feel you."

Her insides were clamping on him spastically and it was a struggle to keep his eyes open and on her because it felt so fucking amazing. It was doubly awesome, because he knew it meant that she was feeling good… and that made it that much hotter.

She flushed and bit her lip, averting her eyes as if she'd suddenly gotten shy again. He wondered if it had to do with the attention being mostly on her now instead of him.

…

That was an accurate assessment, because Lucy was indeed a little embarrassed about all his attention being on her and her pleasure… not to mention that their current position meant that he could watch all her reactions as well as feel them inside. But she was also unsure about it because the extra stimulations surprisingly made that coil of fullness inside her – the one that made her feel like she had to pee – come back, despite not having anything to do with her insides.

However, the potion was still obviously in full effect, because just the light ticklish buzz on her clit felt utterly fantastic and way more intense than it should… which quickly made it hard to remember why exactly she should be concerned about it. Under the pleasure, her discomfort once again faded away to a low buzz… leaving only a small tingle that made her the slightest bit squeamish.

She shifted a little, biting back a gasp as the motion moved him inside her, and then she clamped her lip between her teeth for a good chew. Her eyes shifted back to him…staying low on his chest since she wasn't quite up for eye-contact just yet.

"Y-you sure this is okay? Isn't it uncomfortable to stay…inside me after you've…finished?" she haltingly questioned, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible and failing pretty spectacularly.

"I'm better than okay Luce, this feels amazing! I love the way your insides are clamping on me. Feels fucking fantastic."

He punctuated his rebuttal with a hip roll that had her sighing and closing her eyes in pleasure. Why did he feel so good inside her? Was it just because of the potion? Or would it always feel this amazing?

Soon, she found herself rocking on him of her own volition, simply because it felt so good, and her eyes finally slipped back up to his face, immediately getting caught up in his boiling gaze. Gold flickered in the black, telling her that he wasn't in full frenzy right now, but was working up to round three pretty fast… which was just fine as far as she was concerned.

A few moments after she met his eyes, he grinned at her, his normal big easy-going happy smile but tinted with lust under the circumstances. When paired with his burning eyes, it made a very different sort of facial expression, one that warmed her in all the ways his smile usually did and whole bunch of new ways too.

"There you are…I was wondering how long you'd be shy again. Glad it wasn't permanent."

She pouted. "Hey…for all intents and pu-uh…"

He interrupted her sentence by turning up the vibrator, making her word devolve into a loud moan. She shot him a nasty look and continued undaunted. "_**Purposes.**_ For all intents and purposes this is…my first…time…. So I'm ah-allowed…a bit of…hah…virginal shyness…give me a…break…and sto-ah! Stop that!"

This time he interrupted her with more than one thrust, each one either forcing her to stop speaking or else moan. His cheeky grin said he enjoyed this particular game a little too much, and she resolved herself to never try and hold a meaningful conversation with him inside her.

"You're an…ah! Ass!"

"Sorry…I can't resist…" he shot back, sounding as unapologetic as it was possible to be.

"Lier…you don't sound sorry at all…"

He laughed, which jostled their downstairs together and ended the conversation. She moaned and laughed alongside him, feeling that last bit of her embarrassment slip away, hopefully for good this time – though she doubted it.

She groaned and flushed – but with excitement, not embarrassment – when his hands traveled back up to her chest and he started kneading it again like before. It felt like a really pleasurable massage, and as his palms rasped over her nipples she couldn't resist arching her back into his grip.

"You like this?" he asked, giving her an extra squeeze, and she nodded.

After a second, his palms slid down, cupping underneath her breasts as if to weigh them, and he whistled. "Damn, these are heavy."

She would have laughed if she wasn't on the edge of an orgasm, but some sort of breathy huff escaped her to show her amusement. That huff very quickly reversed into a gasp when his thumbs swept up and over her nipples, and she bucked as a moan immediately followed. His eyebrows popped up, and he glanced up at her eyes.

"Did that feel good?"

"Y-yeah… my… nipples are… super sensitive…" she managed to get out somehow, practically mindless by this point.

"No shit…" he murmured, sounding very interested, and his fingers immediately relocated to the tips of her breasts.

She shuddered as he stroked his fingertips over her nipples, but that was nothing compared to the bolt of pleasure that shot straight to her clit when he pinched them between thumb and forefinger, lightly squeezing, tugging, and rolling. It was on the edge of too rough, and she yelped loudly, "Ah! … G-gentle!" which immediately had him lightening his touch just a little.

A few more tugs on her nipples and a swirl of his hips later, and she was thrown headfirst off the cliff she'd been teetering on for what felt like forever. Her orgasm hit hard and fast, way more intense than her first one, and she was nearly knocked on her ass by it…. or on her face as the case was, since she was already sitting. Her whole upper body was tossed forwards, and she landed with her palms hard on Natsu's chest to keep herself from headbutting him accidentally as she moaned a series of small, 'ah!'s that ended with, "Natsu!"

…

Lucy's eyes had slammed shut so she probably didn't see the smug grin that crossed his lips when she said his name. That smirk was wiped off his face a second later though, when her sex clamped down on him suddenly and started up a crazy pulsing rhythm that felt like she was repeatedly grabbing him in a fist tighter than his own. Some noises came out of him and probably some words too, but he was too far gone to pay attention to what he might sound like.

It instantly forced him into another frenzy, and the world took on that wonky shine it always did when he totally gave into his dragon instincts. His sense of smell immediately shot through the roof too, and he was knocked over the head with Lucy's scent. It was so strong he felt almost like sneezing… but the urge was a strangely pleasurable itch instead of annoying.

Before he knew what was going on, he was grabbing onto her hips again with both hands, holding her still as he pounded up into her. Her insides shuddered and she yelped, maybe in protest, he couldn't tell. Nails dug into his chest and he glanced down to see her arms shaking where she was holding herself up. For that matter, her thighs were shaking too.

His core muscles acted almost on their own and sat him up so he could wrap an arm around her and hold her tight. One hand clamped onto her hip to help her bounce on him as he thrust up into her, and her arms were immediately around his neck.

A second later though, he felt her grip his hair and pull his head out from where he'd burrowed into her shoulder.

"N-Natsu…Stop!"

He got the feeling that she may have said that a couple times before he actually heard. Through a great deal of effort, he managed to at least slow the frantic pace of his hips.

"What's wrong?"

"I…I need to go to the bathroom. Just…can we take a short break?"

Her uncomfortable flushed expression filled in the rest of the details…plus she was tightening up on him the same way she'd done last time.

"Nope."

"Natsu! Ah!"

He lost the battle over his hips and absorbed the sensation of her yanking at his hair as he started pounding into her again. His eyes scrunched closed and he groaned, letting his head fall back as she pulled on it… so when he finally forced his eyelids open again, he was sort of looking down his nose at her.

…

To Lucy, that particular look he was giving her right now – golden eyes half-mast and literally glowing, looking down at her with his head tilted back, lips parted as he panted and groaned – was one of the sexiest ones she'd seen tonight, and she'd seen a lot. Probably adding to it was the fact that it had just come from a scrunched up one where his eyes had been screwed shut and his lips had exposed fangs in a pleasured snarl.

Her fingers relaxed, letting his head flop back forwards, and he predictably buried his nose once again into her shoulder. So, when he spoke, it was a rumble right next to her ear that made her shiver.

"You've gotta do that thing again right? Where you squirt a bunch of liquid all over the place? Just do it…I wanna feel it again…was so fucking hot…"

He'd started out almost sounding normal, but by the end he was back to speaking in short almost growled or groaned phrases – which seemed to be the way he spoke when having sex. He kept it up too, whispering, moaning, and growling all kinds of things in her ear. Whatever crossed his mind seemed to tumble from his mouth in such a way that she might have laughed, if it didn't turn her on so much.

He was right too, she felt that pressure increasing quickly in her abdomen and knew she would probably soon lose her bladder again – or whatever was producing that liquid. She just had to hope and pray that he was right and it wasn't pee…but at least he seemed to like it enough to lie if it was. It helped a lot to hear the heated sincerity of his voice when he said how much he liked it – and he continued to say so over and over.

'_Well,_' she supposed to herself…if it really wasn't something to be embarrassed about…then she supposed she could…

That was the arousal and pleasure talking probably, because not only did she feel that strange urge increasing, she also felt another orgasm approaching quickly. Or she assumed it was an orgasm, though it felt bigger somehow…and deeper…

Her hips started rocking almost without her permission, but it felt so good that she couldn't think about anything anymore outside of her need to reach that peak… the one that was just a _liiittle_ too high… but she could _aaalmost_ see….

A ball of wire felt like it had tangled around her insides and privates, connecting her clit to her vagina…seemingly all the way up into her womb and lower belly…winding tighter and tighter. And finally it snapped.

She didn't even feel how her nails broke the skin on his upper back when she scrambled for purchase and clutched him tight. The shout she made was muffled by his shoulder, which she buried her face into and scrunched her eyes closed to weather the insane wash of sensation that zapped her senses silly. It had risen up from deep inside and then crested and exploded like a geyser, a much different sensation from the normal feeling of abruptly being hit by a bolt of lightning.

Speaking of a geyser… there was definitely a situation as their laps were abruptly flooded without proper eviction notices being issued. All those poor nerves got washed away in the process, and she dizzily wondered – in that tiny part of her brain still somewhat capable of thought – if this was how it felt to ejaculate for a guy. The build up of pressure, then the release in a liquid form that actually felt good to release… as if it simulated things as it came out. She had no idea what was going on down there, but it felt great…better than great actually… downright fucking amazing.

All the new sensations were jumbled up and mixed with her normal orgasm sensations, until she couldn't really tell where one ended and another began…it all just became one big pleasurable mess that was impossible to wrap her mind around or analyze, so she just rode the waves of sensation.

It was about halfway through - when things were starting to slow down a little - that she noticed Natsu had stopped moving and was grabbing her as hard as she was grabbing him. Every clench of her internal muscles was met with a kick of his penis against her walls, which sent her into another muscle spasm…which made him pulse…which made her do the same…over and over. His orgasm lengthened hers, and hers seemed to do the same for him.

Eventually it started to taper off, though that infernal vibrator on her clit started building another one on the heels of the last. Only seconds after finishing the first tsunami, she found herself swamped by another and sputtered, "Th-the remote! I need the…ah!"

They toppled over backwards together, and while Lucy was busy convulsing in something so intense that it felt like her mind was about to be fried, Natsu patted around for the remote and finally unearthed it. He offered it to her and she eyeballed it through watery eyes, finding the off button blessedly quickly. To avoid that horrible unfulfilled sensation of cutting an orgasm short, she waited until the surprise attack was finally over and then cut the power and made it fall off her with a gasp of relief.

They lay tangled together for a long moment after, just trying to catch their breath and recover. But as soon as Lucy shifted, she groaned, feeling a clammy wet sensation all in the pelvic region and knowing that their hips and thighs were thoroughly soaked.

Natsu grunted at the mildly distressed sound, and she answered his nonverbal question by grumbling, "I'm going to have so much laundry to do… and I don't even know if my mattress is going to survive."

He burst into a round of deep chuckles that rumbled against her ear and made her smile and huff a few laughs of her own.

Eventually she added, "Seriously though, I really hope you're right and it's not urine, otherwise the bed is going to start stinking."

He snorted again and then huffed an exasperated sound between a laugh and a groan. Without saying a word, he grabbed her hips, lifted them up, and pulled out of her, and then he put both hands on her shoulders and shoved her down his body until she was nose-to-nose with his pink pubic hair.

She yelped and sputtered, "N-Natsu! What're you…? Hey!" but tapered off once she was eye level with his equipment.

The distraction allowed him to say, "If you're still worried, smell it and taste it yourself. I promise it's not pee… so would you just hurry up and get over it already?"

He sounded a little frustrated, but also amused, and she decided he had a point despite disapproving of his methods. So, she curiously and cautiously bent down to bury her nose in his lowest abdomen, where she could still see a shine of wetness.

Having her head so close to his erection for the first time was exciting and had flustered her to the point that she wasn't thinking clearly, but she resisted the urge to explore those particular parts and just focused on the task at hand. For the moment at least. When she did put her nose to his wet curls and inhaled, she was surprised to smell no hint of ammonia whatsoever. There was a muskiness that she suspected was the smell of their sexes and probably sweat, but there wasn't any sharpness or bitterness to it. If anything, it smelled a little salty and kind of… weirdly buttery. When she risked a taste, it was indeed salty, and a little tart, but definitely not what she would imagine urine to taste like.

Surprised and amazed, she sat up and stared down at him in consternation.

"See, I told you." he smugly said from higher up on the bed, and she sent him an exasperated pout for sounding so arrogant about it.

"Alright, alright… you were right. But if it's not urine, then what the hell is it?"

He shrugged. "I've overheard people talk about women 'squirting' before, and it's always said like a good thing. So I just assumed it was that."

She blinked, having never run across the term herself. Weirdly, she realized that despite his complete naivety and inexperience, he might actually know more about sex than she did thanks to his sensitive ears. At least he obviously didn't understand everything he'd overheard, otherwise she might have felt a little intimidated.

With that issue out of the way – though she resolved herself to immediately investigate this 'squirting' business as soon as she had access to books later – she found herself staring down at him. She was sitting between his spread thighs and abruptly discovered that this was the first time she'd had an unfettered view of his penis and testicles. She'd only caught glimpses and dim views of the area before, but now she could see every bit of his dangly parts, and found herself very, very fascinated by the sight… as well as extremely turned on of course.

The shape and size were already known, but she was a little surprised by the colors and texture, especially of his balls. They were a little odd looking, and as she watched, they clenched up and the skin wrinkled and moved all on its own. That was somewhat freaky, and she blinked and recoiled just a little, before leaning in closer to watch the phenomenon.

Absentmindedly, she muttered, "What the heck? I didn't know scrotums moved around like that…"

He burst out laughing, and she glanced up to see his eyes glittering down at her with pure mirth. "Yeah… they'll do that…"

"Hey! Don't laugh at me, I've never seen testicles up close before remember?" she protested, and then stuck her tongue out at him petulantly.

His eyes flashed gold for a second, and a mildly evil grin swept over his lips before he grabbed her head and shoved down. At the same time, he thrust up, forcing her tongue onto his erection, and rumbled, "Be careful where you stick that out Luce…"

It all happened so fast that she didn't have time to reel her tongue back in before she was plastered against his penis, and she muffled a yelp against his sticky skin. Her tongue immediately snapped back into her mouth and he laughed, obviously expecting that reaction. His hand let her go, and she bobbed back up for air and so she could glare at him as he snickered to himself over his little joke.

She was definitely a little flustered and could feel a hint of warmth over her cheeks, but surprisingly she hadn't been all that embarrassed by it. If anything, her curiosity had been sparked, and now she wanted to get back at him for pulling a stunt like that. So, she went with her first instinct – probably partially driven by the potion-induced lust that still fogged her brain – and her fingers wrapped around the base of his erection to point him upwards.

The instant her fingers made contact, Natsu's laughter choked off on a groan, and he gasped, bucking under her.

"Luce… what're you… ah!"

This time, she was the one who got to cut him off… by putting her mouth over the tip of his penis and sucking. It was a bit of an impulse, and as soon as her lips latched around him she realized what exactly she was doing and felt a zap of both embarrassment and arousal, but the arousal won out in the end. Plus, she was also immediately fascinated by the feel and taste of him in her mouth. Normally she wouldn't have just gone for it like that… at least not without having him take a shower first, but it actually didn't taste bad like she'd expected it might. It was musky and salty, but not gross. If anything, the flavor just served to turn her own more… as well as the strong scent wafting up to her nose.

The only problem was the texture… a slightly lumpy and viscous fluid that she assumed was his cum settled on her tongue, and when she pulled off him she found that it was a little rubbery and hard to swallow. She didn't know if that was because it was partially dried already or what, but it was definitely unsavory.

She didn't have any time to contemplate it though, because he had apparently been triggered by her brief intimate kiss on his private parts, and he lunged at her, toppling her over backwards onto the bed. The protest that tried to come out was smothered by his lips as they landed over hers, and then a deep groan suggested he'd tasted himself and really, really liked it.

After that, things were once again a blur of pleasure and heat, and then without warning she ended up on her knees while he entered her from behind. She had no idea how he'd managed to flip her over so quickly, but one second he was on top of her, and the next she was face down on the bed and he was behind her. He hitched her butt up into the air with his fingers hooked under her hips and was inside her before she could even hope to prop her top half up. So the fairly loud yell of surprise at his rough entry was muffled by the comforter under her face, and then she gripped a handful of it and hung on for dear life as he pistoned in and out of her like some kind of animal.

The new position hit different spots inside her that sprung to life and made her clamp down on him in pleasure as she started to groan continually into the bed. Thankfully, those new spots didn't cause her to feel like she was going to squirt, so the mattress was safe for a little while longer at least. Now that she knew it wasn't pee, she was much more open to it – especially since it felt good – but if they were going to do that, she'd like to grab some towels first.

Those thoughts were fleeting and fuzzy at best, because she was much too consumed by the sensations pummeling her body to spend any time on them. Her insides quaked and pulsed and clenched on Natsu as he kept pounding away at her - rougher than ever before - and as he bottomed out and punched what felt like her cervix on each thrust, she felt herself quickly winding tighter and tighter. He wasn't hitting her so hard that it hurt, but it was a jolt every time that sent a surge of pleasure up her spine like a spark up a fuse, and something told her that fuse would light one hell of a canon.

Soon, the throbbing in her clit drew her hand to it almost without her even realizing what she was doing, but at the first touch she yanked her hand away, a little embarrassed about it. Natsu noticed though and immediately tipped forwards, planting his elbow on the bed next to her shoulder so he could reach a hand around and snag her wrist. His fist then traveled down her belly, taking her hand along with it for the ride until both of their fingers were buried in her curls.

"Touch yourself…I wanna feel it… want you to cum… fuck… that's so sexy Luce… yeah… get yourself off… come on… wanna feel you cum around me…"

At his babbled litany of compliments and encouragements, she couldn't stop herself from starting to rub her clit, gingerly at first and then more and more vigorously as she got used to the feeling. Her fingers slipped and slid in her folds, finding literally no purchase thanks to the profuse slipperiness that she was producing. But she stayed on her clit and rubbed it up and down and in circles, whatever felt best, as it burned and throbbed under her touch. For a long time, his fingers stayed glued to hers, voyeuristically feeling what she was doing to herself, and the thought of him observing her that way was so surprisingly hot that she found herself squirming and whimpering and rubbing herself with absolute abandon.

It all felt so good, and she was so ridiculously horny, that it only took a few minutes for her to coil tight and then break once again, the climax immediately knocking her legs out from under her. Natsu's hand had to relocate to her hip to keep her up while he continued to pound into her for a few more moments. Then, he suddenly seized up too and his teeth locked onto the back of her neck and bit down hard with a loud snarl that probably should have scared her. The sudden sharp pain made her yell and jerk, but it somehow only seemed to spike her pleasure higher for some strange reason, and a fresh wave of her orgasm broke over her, making her thighs shake and a string of high-pitched moans to come from her chest.

They both collapsed back onto the bed, once again spent and shivering with aftershocks.

…

That pattern of sex interspersed with periods of recovery would continue for many hours to come.

At some point, they had paused for a slightly longer rest, and Lucy had taken another dose of the aphrodisiac potion, but thirty or so minutes later found them at it again. Natsu had woken first, and then proceeded to wake her up by trying out the teardrop vibrator on her clit while she was still asleep. That had resulted in her waking up with a mighty bang, and immediately following that she had orgasmed as he entered her from behind while they lay on their sides. He'd kept the damn thing on her too, having her orgasm a few more times while he made surprisingly slow love to her.

And that hadn't been the end of it. Rounds of rough sex were followed with sessions of more gentle love making… the second option occurring more and more frequently as the evening and night progressed and Natsu slowly worked through the frenzy. As for Lucy, she very quickly discovered that she loved every kind of sex with Natsu, whether it was soft or rough, and eagerly accepted all of his attention.

She was definitely glad for the potion though, because there was no way she could have had the stamina to keep up with him without it. Even with the extra assistance, by the time early morning had rolled around, she was utterly exhausted and felt like sleeping for several days straight.

Right before she fell into a very long and very deep sleep, the very last thing Lucy thought was, '_I'm gonna have one hell of a story to tell the girls._'

Quickly following on the heels of that amusing notion was simply a feeling of absolute peace and happiness, knowing that all the barriers between her and Natsu had finally been broken down, and now they would be free to be together completely and without reservation. The serenity that came with the knowledge followed her into her dreams.

* * *

**New Post Note:**

Hey all! Several people actually suggested I put a hint of what my next story will be here, so I decided to update this chapter with that before I clicked "complete."

For all those who read Celestial Dragon, you might remember that I ran a poll on which story you all would like to read next, and it was a tie between this story and The Princess and the Arsonist. Sooooo, that's going to be my next story!

I'll give a very brief synopsis/teaser. ;D

Essentially, it's going to be an AU NaLu story, set in a world with lots of little city states each ruled by a different king (if anyone out there has read Snow White with the Red Hair, it's kind of like that. And if anyone out there hasn't watched that anime, and you like romantic comedies, you should check it out because it's amazing)

Naturally, Lucy is a princess... and her father is a giant dick trying to marry her off to the highest bidder. Cliche, I know, but I wanted to put my own spin on it. ;D As for Natsu... without giving too much away, let's just say he's a mysterious traveler that's come to Lucy's kingdom. ;D

Alrighty! Well, I'm hoping to get The Princess and the Arsonist out in a few weeks, so I'll see you then! But I'll keep checking back to my reviews and PMs in the meantime of course, so feel free to chat. ;D


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